Microalgae Oil Extraction

In recent years various organizations and countries are investing more time and effort in investigating and experimenting with convenient renewable products such as combustible production from the biomass. This is due to the accelerated consumption and continuous decrease of oil reserves. Algae is known as one of the most promising sources for the production of biodiesel. This study uses Dunaliella Salina; which is a type of halophile pink micro-algae especially found in saline water environments. Known for its anti-oxidant activity, it is used in cosmetics and dietary supplements. Dunaliella â-carotene production can also produce several useful by-products such as glycerol which can make up 30% of the biomass dry weight. The preliminary algae growth experiments were performed at 0, 1.0, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 M. NaCl solutions. Dunaliella driven by osmotic pressure gradients produces glycerol especially at high concentration of NaCl. Algae oil will be extracted using hexane with an oil press/expeller method. After the oil has been extracted using an expeller, the remaining pulp can be mixed with cyclohexane to extract the remaining oil content. The oil dissolves in the cyclohexane, and the pulp is filtered out from the solution. The oil and cyclohexane are separated by means of distillation. These two stages (cold press & hexane solvent) together should be able to extract more than 95% of the total oil present in the algae. A Near Infrared (NIR) spectrometer will be used to measure glycerol in hexane solutions. Also, a high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) will be used to separate the oil from others components that may be present.