Enhanced lipid extraction from algae using free nitrous acid pretreatment

Lipid extraction has been identified as a major bottleneck for large-scale algal biodiesel production. In this work free nitrous acid (FNA) is presented as an effective and low cost pretreatment to enhance lipid recovery from algae. Two batch tests, with a range of FNA additions, were conducted to disrupt algal cells prior to lipid extraction by organic solvents. Total accessible lipid content was quantified by the Bligh and Dyer method, and was found to increase with pretreatment time (up to 48 h) and FNA concentration (up to 2.19 mg HNO2-N/L). Hexane extraction was used to study industrially accessible lipids. The mass transfer coefficient (k) for lipid extraction using hexane from algae treated with 2.19 mg HNO2-N/L FNA was found to be dramatically higher than for extraction from untreated algae. Consistent with extraction results, cell disruption analysis indicated the disruption of the cell membrane barrier.