Development of new unit operation for microalgal lipid production

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14272
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Earth system and resources engineering
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Masaki Ota 東北大学, 工学研究科, 助教 (50455804)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 藻類 / オイル / 油脂 / 脂質 / 二酸化炭素 / バイオマス / コロニー / 炭化水素

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Botryococus braunii, BOT-22 can be a producer of hydrocarbon which is secreted naturally from the body. It can be useful that the only hydrocarbon can be recovered by some extraction methods with no damage to the living cell, leading to a hydrocarbon production with continuous cultivation. We assessed the “milking” method for a non-destructive hydrocarbon extraction according to literature. The content of hydrocarbon of the strain was from 30 to 50 wt%-dry cells depending on the cultivation phase. In the experiments, colony-destruction treatment was conducted by flowing culture media through capillary nozzle. A heptane extraction solvent was used and rapidly contacted to culture media. Then, this system was used for extracting the oil. The extracts recovered by heptane was analysed by GC-FID. The results showed that the mixing and extraction time are very important for “the milking”and the developed method can be applied for milking cultures.

Free Research Field

化学工学