Wet extraction of oils from Microalgae in aqueous solution using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide and Surface Active Ionic Liquids

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K06535
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Properties in chemical engineering process/Transfer operation/Unit operation
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Aida Taku 東北大学, 環境科学研究科, 助教 (00466541)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SmithRichard Le 東北大学, 環境科学研究科, 教授 (60261583)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): SATO YOSHIYUKI 東北大学, 大学院工学研究科, 准教授 (50243598)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 超臨界流体 / イオン液体 / バイオマス / 微細藻類 / 超臨界抽出 / 界面活性剤

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Microalgae is gaining attention as a potential new feedstock for biorefineries. Current methods used to obtain oil from microalgae require drying steps, which consumes much energy and the usage of organic solvents. In this work, we developed a wet extraction method using surfactant active ionic liquids (IL) and supercritical CO2 (scCO2). IL are applied to solubilize microalgae oil in water, and to improve contact efficiency with scCO2. Wet oil extraction was conducted from microalgae (Botryococcus braunii) in the cultivation solution with IL and scCO2 which confirmed that the extraction yield increased greatly by adding ILs in the culture compared to pure scCO2 extraction.

Free Research Field

化学工学