Carbon dioxide fixation and polyunsaturated fatty acid production by the red alga porphyridium cruentum

Focusing on CO2 fixation, photoautotrophic cultivation of the red algaPorphyridium cruentum was investigated by means of a batch culture under a 5% CO2-enriched atmosphere. The algal growth kinetics was successfully described with a logistic model, and simulation of a continuous culture under the optimum growth conditions (30°C, 12 klux and 1.18 g-cells/L) showed that the algal CO2-fixation activity could reach 0.66 g-CO2/(L X d). Under the same growth conditions, eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5 n-3, EPA) and arachidonic acid (20:4 n-6, ARA) yields were similarly calculated to be 3.6 mg-EPA/(L X d) and 6.5 mg-ARA/(L X d), respectively.