Supercritical CO2 extraction of hydrocarbons from Botryococcus braunii as a promising bioresource

WOS: 000412254200032Microalgae has been a sustainable resource for producing bio-based products and hydrocarbon rich varieties are significant sources for converting into green naphtha and further to ethylene and propylene. The objective of this study was to develop an optimized supercritical CO2 method for extracting hydrocarbons from Botryococcus braunii. A 3-level factorial design was used to evaluate the effects of pressure (125-200 bar) and CO2 flow rate (5-7 g/min) at a constant temperature of 40 degrees C to elicit the conditions maximizing total extract and hydrocarbon yields. Maximum total extract and hydrocarbon yields were obtained at a pressure of 200 bar, and a CO2 flow rate 8.71 g/min, yielding 1.74 g extract and 147.5 mg hydrocarbon/g dry microalgae. Considering the large diversity of microalgae species, the ability to effectively extract oil from cellular biomass is of prime importance and supercritical CO2 extraction can serve as a green and sustainable alternative.EU FP7 SPLASH Project [311956]This research study was financially supported by EU FP7 SPLASH Project (311956)