Abstract
Cell wall disruption is necessary to maximize lipid extraction yields in conventional species of mass-cultivated microalgae. This study investigated the effect of sonication, solvent choice and number of extractions on the lipid yield, lipid class composition and fatty acid composition of the diatom Porosira glacialis. For comparison, the diatom Odontella aurita and green alga Chlorella vulgaris were included in the study. Sonication effectively disrupted P. glacialis cells, but did not increase the total lipid yield compared to physical stirring (mixing). In all three microalgae, the content of membrane-associated glyco- and phosopholipids in the extracted lipids was strongly dependent on the solvent polarity. A second extraction resulted in higher yields from the microalgae only when polar solvents were used. In conclusion, choice of solvent and number of extractions were the main factors that determined lipid yield and lipid class composition in P. glacialis.
Highlights
Marine photoautotrophic microalgae are a largely unexploited source of lipids with a wide range of possible uses, such as biodiesel p roduction[1], fish oil substitution in aquaculture feed[2] or nutraceuticals for human consumption[3]
Most laboratory procedures rely on a single extraction to isolate lipid from a given biomass, one study found that repeating the extraction twice independently of solvent choice significantly increased the lipid yield from the green microalgae Chlorella sp.[24]
Of the five treatments applied for cell disruption, lyophilization (Fig. 1d) was the least effective method compared to the control (Fig. 1a)
Summary
Marine photoautotrophic microalgae are a largely unexploited source of lipids with a wide range of possible uses, such as biodiesel p roduction[1], fish oil substitution in aquaculture feed[2] or nutraceuticals for human consumption[3]. One of the main challenges to reduce the processing cost is to maximize the product recovery from microalgal biomass In this respect, cell disruption prior to extraction is a prerequisite in frequently mass-cultivated microalgae due to tough cell walls that prevent lipid r elease[7,8]. As the diatom studied in this experiment has a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids bound to an abundance of complex membrane lipids[22,23], hexane alone is unlikely to provide an efficient extraction. Most laboratory procedures rely on a single extraction to isolate lipid from a given biomass, one study found that repeating the extraction twice independently of solvent choice significantly increased the lipid yield from the green microalgae Chlorella sp.[24]. The green algae Chlorella vulgaris and the diatom Odontella aurita, both commercially available, were included in the study
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