Response of Scenedesmus sp. to microwave treatment: Enhancement of lipid, exopolysaccharide and biomass production.

The present study focuses on the use of microwave irradiation to improve the production of lipid, exopolysaccharide and biomass in the microalgae Scenedesmus sp. Microwave treatment conditions such as microwave power, duty cycle % and time was optimized to increase the biomass and lipid content of Scenedesmus sp. Microwave power 100 W, duty cycle 40 %, and 2 min treatment time led to a substantial improvement in the biomass and lipid content. Due to the simultaneous improvement in both the biomass and lipid content, the total lipid production was improved from 0.76 (microwave untreated) to 1.42 g/L (microwave treated) (12 days grown cells). In addition, with biomass and lipid content, microwave treatment also enhanced the production of Exopolysaccharides (EPS) up to 2.3-folds. Furthermore, biodiesel properties were improved to some extent after the microwave treatment. Microwave irradiation is a promising physical treatment method for microalgae to improve total lipid production.