Abstract
Microalgae oil is an optimal feedstock for nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and biodiesel production, but its high levels of chlorophyll limit its large-scale application. To date, few effective approaches have been developed to remove chlorophyll from microalgae oil. The main purpose of this study was to present a preprocessing method of algae oil feedstock (Scenedesmus) to remove chlorophyll by saponification. The results showed that 96% of chlorophyll in biomass was removed. High quality orange transparent oil could be extracted from the chlorophyll reduced biomass. Specifically, the proportion of neutral lipids and saturation levels of fatty acids increased, and the pigments composition became carotenoids-based. The critical parameters of chlorophyll reduced biodiesel conformed to the standards of the USA, China and EU. Sodium copper chlorophyllin could be prepared from the bleaching effluent. The results presented herein offer a useful pathway to improve the quality of microalgae oil and reduce the cost of microalgae biodiesel.
Highlights
Oleaginous microalgae can accumulate large amounts of storage oil under stressful environmental conditions [1]
The results presented provide a useful pathway to improve the quality of microalgae oil and of the chlorophyll reduced biomass, as well as the characteristics of the de‐chlorophyll oil were reduce the cost of microalgae biodiesel
The results presented provide a useful pathway to improve the quality of microalgae oil and reduce the cost of microalgae biodiesel
Summary
Oleaginous microalgae can accumulate large amounts of storage oil (mainly triacylglycerol) under stressful environmental conditions [1]. Microalgae oil is considered an optimal feedstock for biodiesel production, and is of great commercial value in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and health-care products [2]. Photosynthetic microalgae contain various intracellular pigments, such as chlorophyll (a, b, c, and d) and carotenoids (astaxanthin, lutein and beta-carotene), which can endow microalgae with green, orange and red color. Among these pigments, the most abundant is chlorophyll [5]. Chlorophyll is water-insoluble, but can be dissolved in organic solvents such as ethanol, acetone, ether, and chloroform [5]
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