SCREENING OF LIPID CONTENTS OF MICROALGAE BY OPTIMIZATION OF OIL EXTRACTION PROCESSES

Abstract

Currently microalgae are considered as an efficient biological producer of oil. Present study was conducted to explore the lipid yield percentage of three microalgal strains Chlorella sp., Oedogonium sp. and Spirogyra sp. Bligh and Dyer, Soxhlet, Folch and Microwave assisted extraction methods were employed for oil extraction. It was observed that Bligh and Dyer method with Chloroform-methanol (1:2, v/v) gave maximum extraction yield (15.46 ± 0.240 %) for Chlorella sp. whereas Folch method with chloroform-methanol (2:1, v/v) gave more lipid yield as compared to Bligh and Dyer method i.e 5.53 ± 0.240 % for Spirogyra sp., 13.67 ± 0.240 % and 19.69 ± 0.667 % for Oedogonium sp. and Chlorella sp. respectively. Soxhlet extraction resulted in less (14.5± 0.45) percentage yield as compared to Bligh and Dyer and Folch method (16.7± 0.24). Microwave assisted extraction with chloroform- methanol resulted in highest lipid yield (30%) with Chlorella sp. indicating that it contained the maximum lipid content among all the three species.