Wet extraction of hydrocarbons from Botryococcus braunii by dimethyl ether as compared with dry extraction by hexane

Abstract We propose the use of liquid dimethyl ether (DME) as a solvent for extracting hydrocarbons and lipids from Botryococcus braunii Race B paste. The extraction yields and main elements of the extracts obtained from the B. braunii by our technique is nearly the same as by hexane Soxhlet extraction on dried mass. A qualitative analysis by silica gel thin layer chromatography suggested that DME also effectively extracted the specific hydrocarbons, botryococcenes from the wet B. braunii cells. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of DME extracts indicated the presence of a large amount of C32–C34 botryococcenes—the main components of B. braunii Race B. In contrast, hexane extracted not only C32–C34, but also small amounts of C30 and C31 botryococcenes—the minor components. The result shows that extraction differences between DME and hexane are not important.

[1]  A. Couté,et al.  Alkadiene- and botryococcene-producing races of wild strains of Botryococcus braunii , 1985 .

[2]  Keat-Teong Lee,et al.  Microalgae biofuels: A critical review of issues, problems and the way forward. , 2012, Biotechnology advances.

[3]  S. Okada,et al.  Hydrocarbon composition of newly isolated strains of the green microalga Botryococcus braunii , 1995, Journal of Applied Phycology.

[4]  S. Derenne,et al.  Mechanism of formation and chemical structure of Coorongite—I. Role of the resistant biopolymer and of the hydrocarbons of Botryococcus braunii. Ultrastructure of Coorongite and its relationship with Torbanite , 1989 .

[5]  G. Eglinton,et al.  The Botryococcenes—hydrocarbons of novel structure from the alga Botryococcus braunii, Kützing , 1968 .

[6]  E. Casadevall,et al.  Biosynthesis of triterpenoid hydrocarbons in the B-race of the green alga Botryococcus braunii. Sites of production and nature of the methylating agent , 1986 .

[7]  Kenji Imou,et al.  Thermal pre-treatment of wet microalgae harvest for efficient hydrocarbon recovery , 2010 .

[8]  A. Knoll,et al.  Phylogenetic investigation of the aliphatic, non-hydrolyzable biopolymer algaenan, with a focus on green algae , 2009 .

[9]  Teresa M. Mata,et al.  Microalgae for biodiesel production and other applications: A review , 2010 .

[10]  Zhijian Pei,et al.  Effect of nitrogen and extraction method on algae lipid yield , 2009 .

[11]  Eric W. Lemmon,et al.  An Equation of State for the Thermodynamic Properties of Dimethyl Ether , 2011 .

[12]  E. Belarbi,et al.  Rapid simultaneous lipid extraction and transesterification for fatty acid analyses , 1998 .

[13]  J. Belcher.  Notes on the physiology of Botryococcus braunii Kützing , 1968, Archiv für Mikrobiologie.

[14]  Hideki Kanda,et al.  Lipids extracted from several species of natural blue–green microalgae by dimethyl ether: Extraction yield and properties , 2012 .

[15]  Stefano Mantegna,et al.  Improved extraction of vegetable oils under high-intensity ultrasound and/or microwaves. , 2008, Ultrasonics sonochemistry.

[16]  P. Li,et al.  Simple extraction method of green crude from natural blue-green microalgae by dimethyl ether , 2011 .

[17]  S. Okada,et al.  Biosynthesis of the triterpenoids, botryococcenes and tetramethylsqualene in the B race of Botryococcus braunii via the non-mevalonate pathway , 2003 .

[18]  Ayhan Demirbas,et al.  Production of Biodiesel from Algae Oils , 2008 .

[19]  H. Oh,et al.  Comparison of several methods for effective lipid extraction from microalgae. , 2010, Bioresource technology.

[20]  Arnaud Hélias,et al.  Life-cycle assessment of biodiesel production from microalgae. , 2009, Environmental science & technology.

[21]  P. Dhamelincourt,et al.  Sites of accumulation and composition of hydrocarbons in Botryococcus braunii , 1980 .

[22]  Y. Chisti.  Biodiesel from microalgae. , 2007, Biotechnology advances.

[23]  M. Zhu,et al.  Extraction of lipids from Mortierella alpina and enrichment of arachidonic acid from the fungal lipids. , 2002, Bioresource technology.

[24]  Helmut Knapp,et al.  Binary vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium of dimethyl ether - water and mutual solubilities of methyl chloride and water: Experimental results and data reduction , 1988 .

[25]  Michael K Danquah,et al.  Oil extraction from microalgae for biodiesel production. , 2011, Bioresource technology.

[26]  W. J. Dyer,et al.  A rapid method of total lipid extraction and purification. , 1959, Canadian journal of biochemistry and physiology.

[27]  Pierre Metzger,et al.  Lycopadiene, a tetraterpenoid hydrocarbon from new strains of the green alga Botryococcus braunii. , 1987 .

[28]  T. Devarenne,et al.  Characterization of botryococcene synthase enzyme activity, a squalene synthase-like activity from the green microalga Botryococcus braunii, Race B. , 2004, Archives of biochemistry and biophysics.