Supercritical CO2 extraction of Mortierella alpina single cell oil: Comparison with organic solvent extraction

► Extraction method and pretreatment notably influence lipid recovery in M. alpina. ► Higher mass transfer in the treated cells results in rapid extraction. ► Maximum cell wall disruption occurred with enzyme as evidenced by the SEM images. ► Differential solubility of fatty acids was influenced by the mode of pretreatment. ► Prominent cis-stretching vibration noticed in the FT-IR spectra.