In this study, the concentrations of MgSO4, salinity and light intensity were optimised for maximum biomass productivity and lipid content in Chlorella sp. Lipid synthesized at varied experimental conditions was also assessed in detail for biodiesel properties through FAME analysis. FAMEs mainly composed of C16:0, C16:1(9), C16:3(7, 10, 13), C18:0, C18:1(11), C18:2(9, 12), C18:3(9, 12, 15). The optimum biomass productivity (372.50 mg L (1) d (1)) and lipid content (32.57%) was obtained at MgSO4-150 ppm; salinity-12.5 ppm, and light intensity-25 mu mol m (2) s (1). However, at this condition the cetane number, a major biodiesel property was not complying with worldwide biodiesel standard. Therefore, further optimisations were done to check the suitability of biodiesel fuel. The optimum biomass productivity (348.47 mg L (1) d (1)) and lipid content (12.43%) with suitable biodiesel fuel properties was obtained at MgSO4-50 ppm, salinity-25 ppm and light intensity-100 mu mol m (2) s (1). The validation experiments confirmed the closeness of predicted and measured response values. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.