Liquid triphasic systems as sustainable downstream processing of Chlorella sp. biorefinery for potential biofuels and feed production

Koyande AK 1 , Chew KW 2 , Show PL 1 , Munawaroh HSH 3 , Chang JS 4

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
  • 2 School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, Jalan Sunsuria, Bandar Sunsuria, 43900 Sepang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian, China
  • 3 Chemistry Program, Department of Chemistry Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Science Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung 40154, West Java, Indonesia
  • 4 Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan; Research Centre for Smart Sustainable Circular Economy, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan; Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan. Electronic address: changjs@mail.ncku.edu.tw
Bioresour Technol, 2021 Aug;333:125075.
PMID: 33872996 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.125075

Abstract

Microalgae are potential sustainable renewable sources of energy but are highly underutilized due to the expensive and time-consuming downstream processing. This study aims at curbing these obstacles by extracting multiple components with a single processing unit. In this work, an ultrasound-assisted liquid triphasic flotation system was incorporated to extract proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates by phase separation. The parameters involved were optimized and the final recovery efficiency of proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates was determined. A control run involving conventional three-phase partitioning and a 15-fold scale-up system with the recycling of phase components were also performed. Gas Chromatograph and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy were used to examine the potential of extracted products as a source of biofuel. This biorefinery approach is crucial in commercializing microalgae for biodiesel and bioethanol generation with a side product of purified proteins as feed.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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