Journal article
A mechanistic study of algal cell disruption and its effect on lipid recovery by solvent extraction
BHJ Yap, SA Crawford, GJ Dumsday, PJ Scales, GJO Martin
Algal Research | Published : 2014
Abstract
The effect of cell rupture on subsequent lipid recovery by solvent extraction was assessed by performing extractions on Chlorella sp. suspensions that were ruptured to varying extents by high pressure homogenization. Descriptions of lipid recovery mechanisms were supported by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the damaged cells, with the extent of cell rupture quantified by cell counting. Lipid recovery by monophasic solvent extraction was found to be a two-stage process. Intracellular lipids from ruptured cells were immediately recovered. Lipids from unruptured cells were recovered very slowly over hours, which can be best explained by diffusion across the cell wall, driven by a c..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of an Australian Postgraduate Award and a Melbourne Materials Institute (MMI)-CSIRO Materials Science PhD Scholarship. We are also grateful to David Hill and Ian Olmstead for their useful discussions and contributions to the project. Australian Government funding through the Second Generation Biofuels Research and Development Grant Program is gratefully acknowledged along with financial and technical support provided by Bio Fuels Pty. Ltd. (Victoria, Australia) and the Victor Smorgon Group.