AUTHOR=Barati Bahram , Fazeli Zafar Fatemeh , Amani Babadi Arman , Hao Chen , Qian Lili , Wang Shuang , El-Fatah Abomohra Abd 

TITLE=Microalgae as a Natural CO2 Sequester: A Study on Effect of Tobacco Smoke on Two Microalgae Biochemical Responses

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Energy Research

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/energy-research/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2022.881758

DOI=10.3389/fenrg.2022.881758

ISSN=2296-598X

ABSTRACT=Microalgae are known as the most efficient biological sequesters of carbon dioxide (CO2). Recently, they have been exploited to enhance air quality through decreasing CO2 levels and increasing oxygen (O2) concentrations. However, in public places, there are sources of toxic chemicals such as tobacco smoke that may affect the growth of microalgae. For the first time, the current study explores the influence of tobacco smoke on the cell growth, biodiesel characteristics, and biochemical composition of two strains of model microalgae. Chlamydomonas strains were treated with tobacco smoke in a sealed box for 7 days, wherein every one hour, one cigarette was burned. Upon exposure of microalgae to tobacco smoke, the specific growth rate (μmax) was unaffected in CHL-2220 and remained around 0.500 day−1, whereas in CHL-2221 it was severely declined from 0.445 day−1 to 0.376 day−1. In the CHL-2221, the lipid level was considerably reduced from 15.55%DW to 13.37%DW upon exposure to tobacco smoke. In both strains, palmitic acid was the main constituent of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) that displayed significant (P<0.05) decreases in response to tobacco smoke exposure. In CHL-2221, oleic acid (C18:1) presented a substantial rise from 7.64% to 17.09% in response to tobacco smoke. Besides, exposure of CHL-2220 to tobacco smoke decreased the cetane number (CN) from 30.34 to 25.28, while in CHL-2221 increased from 26.07 to 29.73 upon treatment. Both strains demonstrated low quality to be used as biodiesel feedstock. Conversely, their fatty acid profile revealed their promising use as nutrient food.