N. oleoabundans was chosen to evaluate the effectiveness of semi-continuous culture for production of high-lipid content biomass. A limiting supply of N resulted in drastically diminished growth and only small increases in the lipid content of the biomass. In fact, lipid content and lipid productivity were inversely related across the scope of N supply rates studied. The data suggests that this cultural method is unsuitable for production of high-lipid content biomass.