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Rapid estimation of triacylglycerol content of Chlorella sp. by thermogravimetric analysis

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Abstract

A simple and reliable method based on thermogravimetric analysis has been developed for determining triacylglycerol content in Chlorella sp. KR-1. There are two decomposing steps during pyrolysis of the microalgal cells and the second step of weight loss may be attributed to degradation and volatilization of triacylglycerols. The second peak height in the temperature derivatives of weight loss increased with the triacylglycerol content of the microalgal cells and the peak was around 390°C regardless of the triacylglycerol contents. Based on these findings, a linear equation for determining triacylglycerol content was derived. The proposed method gives satisfactory results, showing small variance and a good interpolation capability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Change Technology Research Division, Korea Institute of Energy Research, Daejeon, 305-343, Korea

    Jeong-Geol Na, You-Kwan Oh, Ji-Yeon Park, Chang Hyun Ko, See-Hoon Lee, Soo Hyun Chung & Sang Goo Jeon

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 702-701, Korea

    Ho Se Lee

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering Education, Chungnam National University, 220 Gung-Dong, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon, Korea

    Kwang Bok Yi

Authors
  1. Jeong-Geol Na
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  2. Ho Se Lee
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  3. You-Kwan Oh
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  4. Ji-Yeon Park
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  5. Chang Hyun Ko
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  6. See-Hoon Lee
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  7. Kwang Bok Yi
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  8. Soo Hyun Chung
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  9. Sang Goo Jeon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sang Goo Jeon.

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Na, JG., Lee, H.S., Oh, YK. et al. Rapid estimation of triacylglycerol content of Chlorella sp. by thermogravimetric analysis. Biotechnol Lett 33, 957–960 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-011-0522-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-011-0522-y

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