Produção de compostos orgânicos voláteis por Scenedesmus obliquus em fotobiorreatores

Abstract

Microalgae are a potential source of biomolecules of commercial interest due to their diversified metabolic profile capable of synthesizing different classes of volatile organic compounds. In both natural and artificial environments, microalgae can be exposed to a variety of environmental conditions and nutrient availability that affect both the growth rate and their cell composition. In the face of this, this work had as objective to produce volatile organic compounds by Scenedesmus obliquus in photobioreactors. In the first stage, we evaluated the effect of different climates and seasons of the year in extreme regions of Brazil on the production of volatile organic compounds. A combined total of 47 compounds was identified by Scenedesmus obliquus in all samples studied, and of these, 6 volatiles were common in all experiments. The main volatile groups found were hydrocarbons, aldehydes, ketones, and alcohols, with heptadecane being the main volatile compound formed. In the second work, the influence of light and dark cycles on the production of volatile organic compounds was evaluated. A combined total of 37 compounds were identified, with the alcohols, aldehydes, ketones and terpenes groups varying over time. The results show that the main volatile compounds found for the light cycle were 3-Methyl butanol and 6-Methyl-5-hepten-2-one compounds and for the dark cycle, the most relevant compounds were 2-Ethylhexanol alcohols and 1-Pentanol. The results obtained contribute to both the metabolic elucidation of these compounds and to the identification a fraction of biocompounds microalgal with great potential for commercial exploitation.