Abstract
A novel method using ethanol was proposed for extracting lipids from wet microalga Picochlorum sp. at room temperature and pressure. In this study, Central Composite design (CCD) was applied to investigate the optimum conditions of lipid extraction. The results revealed that the solvent to biomass ratio had the largest effect on lipid extraction efficiency, followed by extraction time and temperature. A high lipid extraction yield (33.04% of the dry weight) was obtained under the following extraction conditions: 5 mL solvents per gram of wet biomass for 37 min with gentle stirring at room temperature. The extraction yield was comparable to that obtained by the widely used Bligh-Dyer method. Furthermore, no significant differences in the distribution of lipid classes and fatty acid composition were observed according to different extraction methods. In conclusion, these results indicated that the proposed procedure using ethanol could extract lipids from wet biomass efficiently and had giant potential for lipid extraction at large scale.
Highlights
Due to the serious energy crisis and environmental pollution associated with the using of fossil fuels, biofuel derived from microalgae has been advocated in recent years
The result implied that ethanol had potential for extracting lipids from wet microalgae at room temperature
This study demonstrated that the novel method using ethanol could be used to extract lipids from high-moisture microalgae at room temperature, with an extraction yield of 33.04% of the dry weight
Summary
Due to the serious energy crisis and environmental pollution associated with the using of fossil fuels, biofuel derived from microalgae has been advocated in recent years. Compared to other feedstocks like plant oils, animal fats, etc., microalgae have outstanding advantages: they are capable of growing rapidly and converting CO2 into substantial amounts of lipids [1,2,3]. Many microalgae can grow well in unfavorable lands and saline water. Microalgae do not compete for the land required for producing food and overcome the discord between food and fuel [6,7,8]. Extracting lipids is one of the most key and limited processes for biofuel production based on microalgae at large scale. Lardon et al [9] and
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