Chapter 10 - Recent Advances in Lipid Extraction for Biodiesel Production

Abstract

The critical downstream processing steps of harvesting and lipid extraction have seen remarkable technological improvements in recent years which have improved their cost-effectiveness and efficiency. The type of extraction method used greatly influences the quality of lipid, residual biomass coproducts, and the efficiency of biodiesel production. Many different variations on the lipid extraction process have been assessed in recent years which include expellers, organic solvent extraction, supercritical fluid, subcritical water, electrochemical extraction methods, etc. Because the fuel characteristics of biodiesel are impacted by the choice of the extraction process to be employed, proper consideration must be given to the process optimization and technology adaptation for the specifications set for biodiesel by international standards. In this chapter, recent developments in the extraction methods of algae lipids are discussed and compared as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each method is introduced comprehensively in terms of products and economic issues.