Characterization of lipids in five microalgae species

YAO LINXING; GERDE JOSE A.; WANG TONG; WEN ZHIYOU; LEE SHOW-LING

Long Beach, California

Conferencia; 103rd AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo; 2012

American Oil Chemists' Society

Microalgae are one of the promising future sources for biofuels. In order to identify the most suitable algae species for specific applications, such as biofuel, industrial fluids, and nutraceutical applications, and for facilitating the downstream oil extraction, the lipid profiles of five microalgae were characterized, which were Nannochloropsis spp., Schizochytrium limacinum, Scenedesmus spp., chlamydomonas spp. (genetically modified), and Chlorella vulgaris. The lipid class composition was determined by HPLC, 31P NMR and TLC-GC. The fatty acid composition of total lipid and each lipid class were quantified by GC. Total content of unsaponifiable matters was determined and the profile of unsaponifiables was quantified by GC-MS. The melting and ceystallization profile of the total lipid and its methyl and isopropyl esters was analyzed by DSC. The present study provides valuable compositional information to algae growers and downstream processors to select the most profitable candidates for specific applications.