The problem is that the container of 20l which I will be using cannot be autoclaved so I will be using 500 ml conical flasks. However, that will require a large number of flasks and it will take lot of time to do the autoclave. Is there an easier way to do this? My lab has a vertical autoclave and a horizontal autoclave.
If you use a Bioreactor that has SIP unit (Sterilization in Place), you don't need autoclave. You might consider also a filtration unit while transferring the media to the reactor (if you don't have solids)
If it is a well-defined media, you could also use an in-line, sub-micron pore size filter to filter the medium directly into the sterile vessels you are using.
I would recommend using Sodium Hypochlorite (bleach) and neutralising with Sodium Thiosulfate.
Add 20L of water to your vessel, add 0.5ml/L bleach, and aerate for 5 mins. Then leave for at least 3 hours.
Then neutralise with 0.15g/L sodium thiosulfate. Aerate vigorously for 30-60 minutes.
Then add your growth media, this would need to be autoclaved beforehand though.
You may use filtration.
Algae for biodiesel requires extremely large production. Sterilze water cannot be used at very large scale. Keep this in mind before you make any technology claims. You can only use sterile water at small scale, may be in the initial seed preparation stages.
In our lab, we do perpetual algae consortia with high lipid content using seawater with no treatment.
As far as my knowledge if it is photo autotrophic growth of microalgae it will not be contaminated as carbon source is absent and medium itself contains some anticontaminants in its composition like BG11 medium. Anyways You can also try by keeping medium under UV radiation for 15min as a more precautionary measure .
I tried BG11 sterilization with uv light but did not get good results. More over contamination if present may not appear immediately but may take some time. Once some algae develop then contamination f present may be seen. I dont know what anticontaminants are present in BG11 and I will be glad if you throw some light
Filtration with sterile filters is good, but considering 20 L volume there might be a need for proper sterilization to avoid contamination. This can be done in the autoclave but you need to use a longer time than small volume medium. Longer time will give a room for proper sterilization of the whole liquid volume.
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