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Microalgae biomass pre-treatment with deep eutectic solvent to optimize lipid isolation in biodiesel production

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Abstract

While microalgae are promising biomass candidates for biodiesel production, efficient lipid extraction is hindered by the strong cell walls. Cell wall disruption is an essential processing step for improving lipid yields from microalgae biomass. Conventional methods use toxic organic solvents (e.g., mixtures of chloroform and methanol or hexane) to extract microalgal lipids. This study with Chlorella pyrenoidosa investigates a novel microalgal pretreatment by a deep eutectic solvent (choline chloride:acetic acid) to increase cell wall disruption prior to lipid extraction. Deep eutectic solvent and ultrasonic homogenization should be best performed after 5 min of pretreatment. Biomass was characterized before and after the pretreatment to understand the mechanism. To optimize the lipid extraction yield, the effect of various variables (methanol to n-butanol, solvent to biomass ratio, time, and temperature) on lipid extraction yield was investigated using a single-factor experiment. The maximum lipid yield (19.25%) was extracted at 1:4 methanol to n-butanol and a 30 (v/w) solvent to biomass ratio over 120 min at 60 °C. Fatty acid methyl esters were obtained through transesterification reactions from extracted lipid of optimized condition and biodiesel quality was studied in comparison with European and US standards. The dominant fatty acids were C16:0 (29.54%), C18:2 (18.42%), and C18:3 (19.50%) and properties of biodiesel are within the European and US standards. This novel pretreatment method, coupled with lipid yields and characterization, documents the significant potential for microalgae biodiesel as an alternative, sustainable energy source.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22078308), Innovation Leadership Program in Sciences and Technologies for Central Plains Talent Plan (No. 214200510009), Program for Science & Technology Innovative Research Team in the University of Henan Province (No.22IRTSTHN007), Innovation Leadership Program in Sciences and Technologies for Zhengzhou Talent Gathering Plan, and Outstanding Contribution Talent Project in Sciences and Technologies for Zhengzhou Talent Gathering Plan (No. 20180400042). The Ph.D. study of Ange Douglas and Gul Muhammad are supported by the Presidential Fellowship of Zhengzhou University, Henan, China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450001, China

    Ange Douglas Potchamyou Ngatcha, Gul Muhammad, Yongkun Lv, Wenlong Xiong, Jingliang Xu & Md.Asraful Alam

  2. School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, China

    Anqi Zhao

  3. Zhengzhou Tuoyang Industrial Co., Ltd, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, China

    Jingliang Xu & Md.Asraful Alam

  4. Zhengzhou University Industrial Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, China

    Jingliang Xu

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  1. Ange Douglas Potchamyou Ngatcha
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  2. Gul Muhammad
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  3. Yongkun Lv
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  4. Wenlong Xiong
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  5. Anqi Zhao
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Contributions

Ange Douglas Potchamyou Ngatcha: conceptualization, data curation, writing–original draft, review and editing; Gul Muhammad: conceptualization, data curation; writing–original draft, review and editing; Yongkun Lv: review and editing; Wenlong Xiong: review and editing; Anqi Zhao: review and editing; Jingliang Xu: review and editing, supervision, validation, funding acquisition; Md. Asraful Alam: conceptualization and data validation, supervision, review and editing, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Jingliang Xu or Md.Asraful Alam.

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Ngatcha, A.D.P., Muhammad, G., Lv, Y. et al. Microalgae biomass pre-treatment with deep eutectic solvent to optimize lipid isolation in biodiesel production. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 12 (Suppl 1), 133–143 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-02236-9

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