Autor(es): Dias, Carla ; Nobre, B. P. ; Santos, J. A. L. ; Silva, Teresa Lopes da ; Reis, Alberto
Data: 2022
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.9/4014
Origem: Repositório do LNEG
Assunto(s): Biodiesel Production; Rhodosporidium toruloides; Lipids; Carotenoids; Liquid-liquid extraction
ABSTRACT: Biodiesel produced from oleaginous microorganisms is considered an appealing option since oleaginous yeasts and microalgae can accumulate between 20 % and 80 % lipids of their dry cell weight. However, it is still not economically sustainable since production costs are still high. This work developed a new mild protocol using hexane or sunflower oil as extraction solvents to simultaneously extract lipids and carotenoids from Rhodosporidium toruloides biomass directly from the broth culture without using any harvesting technique after performing high pressure homogenization to disrupt the yeast cells. The highest results were obtained for the hexane extractions attaining 55.9 % of total lipids (w/w) and 111.5 mu g g-1 (eq. torulene) of carotenoids, which are higher values than the ones obtained using lipid extraction traditional methods. The process here presented is an easy, simple, inexpensive and environmentally friendly methodology which involves the simultaneous extraction of carotenoids and lipids directly from R. toruloides broth culture which has never been reported before and can greatly improve the economics of the biodiesel production process.
