The Effect of Culture Media Types on the Growth of Marine Microalgae Chlorella vulgaris

Chlorella vulgaris is one of the marine microalgae that has potential to be developed, one of which is the renewable energy sector, biodiesel. The growth media used in the biomass production of microalgae are very various, such as Walne, Guillard, and Agriculture Fertilizer (Urea). This study aims to determine the effect of types of growth media on population density, absolute growth, relative growth rate, and specific growth rate of C. vulgaris. Study on 3 media types of microalgae growth shows the density of C. vulgaris cultured on a laboratory scale experienced the highest peak density in the Guillard media on the 3rd day around 7430 x 104 cells/mL. However, the lowest density peak was in the Urea culture about 2520 x 104 cells/mL, followed by Walne media around 3335 x 104 cells/mL. The highest absolute growth average was found in the Guillard media about 6311 x 104 cells/mL and the lowest was in the Urea and Walne media about 1401 x 104 cells/mL and 2216 x 104 cells/mL, respectively. Meanwhile, in C. vulgaris culture, it was found that Guillard and Walne media produced the highest relative growth of 564% and 198% and the lowest was at 125% for Agriculture Fertilizer (Urea). In the process of culturing C. vulgaris for 6 days, it was found that Guillard media showed the highest average specific growth rate of 58% per day and the lowest was on Urea culture as much as 27% per day, followed by Walne media about 36%.