Dataset on the influence of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and growth temperature on biomass productivity of chlorella micro-algae in green fuel synthesis

Chlorella micro-algae species are widely employed in sustainable biofuel production and development due to their high biomass and lipid accumulation rates. In this data article, the effect of carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration and culture temperature on the growth rate and biomass productivity of <b><i>chlorella vulgaris</i></b> micro algae in sustainable biofuel development was investigated. The micro-algae strains (SAG 211-11b) were isolated from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and cultured with modified blue green algae (Modified BG-11) nutrients under photoautotrophic conditions and continuous illumination. The light intensity was maintained at 300μmol photons m⁻² s⁻¹ and measured using a portable quantum light meter (Model 3415F, pulse photoelectric sensor; spectrum Technologies Inc., USA). The pre-cultured micro-algal cells were transferred into bubble bioreactors consisting of 500 mL Erlenmeyer flasks that contain 300 mL of BG-11 medium. The CO₂ concentration in the aeration gas was adjusted to 0.04% (air), 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%, 12%, and 15%, and experiments were conducted at growth temperatures of 25°C, 27.5°C, 30°C and 32.5°C. The experimental measurements were analyzed with statistical tools (standard error and analysis of variance, ANOVA) by using IBM SPSS statistics version 30.0. The air (0.04% CO₂ concentration) has the lowest biomass productivity at all the tested growth temperatures. While the highest biomass productivity of 3.75± 0.0927g L⁻¹ day⁻¹ was recorded at growth temperature of 30°C and under optimum CO₂ concentration of 6.0%. However, further increases in growth temperature beyond this optimum level (30°C) resulted in a sharp decline in growth rate and biomass yield. The null hypothesis (H₀) was rejected at the 5% significance value since the calculated F_Rstatistics > F_critical at <i>α</i> = 0.05. Finally, the data is of utmost importance to the bio-energy researchers and scientific community in selecting optimum growth parameters for enhanced micro-algae growth and biomass productivity.