Improvement in microalgae lipid extraction using a sonication-assisted method

Ana Maria Pereira Neto, Rafael Augusto Sotana de Souza, Amanda Denisse Leon-Nino, Joana D'arc Aparecida da Costa, Rodolfo Sbrolini Tiburcio, Thaís Abreu Nunes, Thaís Cristina Sellare de Mello, Fernando Takashi Kanemoto, Flávia Marisa Prado Saldanha-Corrêa and Sônia Maria Flores Gianesella

Renewable Energy, 2013, vol. 55, issue C, 525-531

Abstract: Oil extraction from microalgae stands as a huge challenge for bioproducts and biofuels production, mainly due to high costs and energy requirement. In this study, maximum cell density, growth curve, lipid content, daily biomass and oil productivities were determined for Chlorella minutissima, Thalassiosira fluviatilis and Thalassiosira pseudonana, strains maintained at the Instituto Oceanográfico of the Universidade de São Paulo. The microalgal dry biomass was used to evaluate the lipid extraction methodology regarding a sonication bath as pretreatment cell disruption technique followed by vortex mixing and n-hexane as solvent. The results showed a lipid content of 15.5% (% dry weight) for C. minutissima, 40.3% for T. fluviatilis and 39.5% for T. pseudonana. To determine the feasibility of using microalgae into the biofuel industry is essential to consider the daily biomass and oil productivities along with the lipid content, as could be evidenced in C. minutissima. The results indicate that the sonication-assisted method with n-hexane was efficient for lipid extraction in these strains, suggesting a favorable potential for biodiesel production.

Keywords: Microalgae; Biomass; Cell disruption; Lipid extraction; Bioenergy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096014811300044X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:55:y:2013:i:c:p:525-531

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2013.01.019

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().