In outdoor cultivation, screening strains adapted to a wide temperature range or suitable strains for different environmental temperatures is of great importance. In this study, triacylglycerol (TAG) content of 23 oil-producing Chlorella strains from different climate zones were analyzed by thin layer chromatography. Four selected Chlorella strains (NJ-18, NJ-7, NMX35N and NMX139N) with rather high TAG content had higher total lipid content compared with Chlorella vulgaris SAG 211-11b. In particular, NJ-18 displayed the highest TAG productivity among the four high oil-producing Chlorella strains. Accumulation of TAGs in strain NMX35N changed a little from 30 to 40 degrees C, showing a desirable characteristic of accumulating TAGs at high temperatures. Our results demonstrated that NJ-18 and NMX35N had suitable fatty acid profiles and good adaption to low and high temperatures respectively. Therefore, cultivation of the two Chlorella strains together might be a good option for economic biodiesel production during the whole seasons of the year. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.