Extraction of lipids from microalgae using monophasic-biphasic separation via hexane–acetone–water system

Abstract

Effective extraction of lipids from aqueous algae is challenging due to miscibility issues of lipophilic extraction solvents like hexane with the aqueous media. However, we observed that a polar aprotic solvent such as acetone can make the original biphasic system monophasic, thus permitting higher extraction yields. The attractiveness of such a system is the ability to modulate phase stability by changing solvent concentrations so that the lipid-rich phase can eventually be easily separated. In this paper, a solvent system containing hexane and acetone is presented as an alternative to the common Bligh and Dyer extraction system.

Keywords:

• microalgae
• oil extraction
• hexane
• acetone
• biphasic extraction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.