The static extraction of lipid from microalgae Desmodesmus sp. MCC34

Abstract

The commonly used techniques for extraction of lipids from dry or wet biomass involve energy intensive steps such as cell lysis, high temperature and cell mixing causing substantial energy burden on the process. In present work, we report our finding on using a static method of mixing standard solvent with dry algal biomass without stirring. This extraction procedure was found to depend on the ratio of solvent volume to the biomass (SBR) and surface area factor (SAF). The kinetic study suggests that the static extraction followed Patricelli model of bi-phasic lipid extraction, consisting of a rapid washing step followed by the diffusion step. The results also suggest that the rate of lipid extraction in static process at optimum SBR and SAF, matched the rate of extraction obtained when lysed biomass was used or in the case where biomass was mixed (stirred) with solvent.