Growing algae in darkness for biodiesel production eliminates the challenges of evaporation and light penetration reported for open ponds and the costs and fouling that plague photobioreactors. The current study demonstrated that Chlorella kessleri str. UTEX 263 could grow heterotrophically in the dark on pure sugars or lignocellulosic hydrolysates of plant biomass. Hydrolysates of a prairie grass native to Kansas, Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), supported the growth of C. kessleri in the dark. Nitrogen limitation stimulated the accumulation of biodiesel lipids by 10-fold in heterotrophic cultures grown on pure sugars or Big Bluestem hydrolysate. Limiting P in the growth medium also was shown to increase cellular lipid accumulation in C. kessleri. Iron limitation was not sufficient to increase cellular lipid content. Crude biomass extracts may have levels of N that cannot be easily removed, which are high enough to relieve N limitations in growth media. This initial study suggests that P might be more easily removed from biomass extracts than N for increasing cellular lipid production by nutrient limitation and further that native prairie grasses are potentially suitable as sources of lignocellulosic sugars.

在黑暗中种植用于生物柴油生产的藻类消除了开放池塘中报告的蒸发和透光挑战以及困扰光生物反应器的成本和污垢。目前的研究表明Chlorella kessleri str. UTEX 263 可以在黑暗中在植物生物质的纯糖或木质纤维素水解产物上异养生长。一种原产于堪萨斯州的草原草的水解产物 Big Bluestem ( Andropogon gerardii ) 支持C. kessleri在黑暗中的生长。在纯糖或 Big Bluestem 水解产物上生长的异养培养物中，氮限制刺激了生物柴油脂质的积累 10 倍。限制生长培养基中的磷也显示增加细胞脂质积累C.凯斯莱里。铁限制不足以增加细胞脂质含量。粗生物质提取物可能含有无法轻易去除的 N 水平，该水平足以缓解生长培养基中的 N 限制。这项初步研究表明，与 N 相比，P 可能更容易从生物质提取物中去除，以通过营养限制增加细胞脂质生产，此外，原生草原草可能适合作为木质纤维素糖的来源。