Ionic liquid-assisted subcritical water promotes the extraction of lipids from wet microalgae Scenedesmus sp

摘要

Presently, microalgae are considered one of the most promising feedstocks. However, a large scale and efficient extraction method is costly to implement. Therefore, in this paper, we examine the use of an environmentally friendly solvent-ionic liquid-assisted subcritical water method to extract lipids from wet Scenedesmus sp. The extraction efficiency under various experimental conditions was evaluated. The optimal experimental parameters consisted of the ionic liquid species [HNEt3][HSO4], a 1% concentration of ionic liquid species- [HNEt3][HSO4], and a temperature of 110 degrees C. The lipid yield under the optimal conditions (35.67% dried weight biomass) was close to that of the Bligh & Dyer method (35.32% dried weight biomass). However, the triacylglycerol content (73.63% total lipids) was higher than that of the Bligh & Dyer's method (60.44% total lipids). In addition, algae cell residues assembled into microspheres, therefore, they were easy to separate from the mixture. Practical applications: This method allows for easy and efficient extraction of lipids from wet microalgae, and it is environmentally friendly and easy to scale up. Therefore, it may prove beneficial for biodiesel production.