Semi-continuous lipid production. Because it required the least N stress to
prompt lipid accumulation in batch cultures, 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.