Low solvent, low temperature method for extracting biodiesel lipids from concentrated microalgal biomass

An industrially relevant method for disrupting microalgal cells and preferentially extracting neutral lipids for large-scale biodiesel production was demonstrated on pastes (20–25% solids) of Nannochloropsis sp. The highly resistant Nannochloropsis sp. cells. were disrupted by incubation for 15 h at 37 °C followed by high pressure homogenization at 1200 ± 100 bar. Lipid extraction was performed by twice contacting concentrated algal paste with minimal hexane (solvent:biomass ratios (w/w) of <2:1 and <1.3:1) in a stirred vessel at 35 °C. Cell disruption prior to extraction increased lipid recovery 100-fold, with yields of 30–50% w/w obtained in the first hexane contact, and a further 6.5–20% in the second contact. The hexane preferentially extracted neutral lipids over glyco- and phospholipids, with up to 86% w/w of the neutral lipids recovered. The process was effective on wet concentrated paste, required minimal solvent and moderate temperature, and did not require difficult to recover polar solvents.