Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 21 No 3 (2017): 735 - 744

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17576/mjas-2017-2103-23

 

 

 

ALGAE OIL EXTRACTION FROM FRESHWATER MICROALGAE Chlorella vulgaris

 

(Pengekstrakan Minyak Alga Daripada Mikroalga Air Tawar Chlorella vulgaris)

 

Nurfarahanim Abdullah, Nur Amelia Amran, Nur Hidayah Mat Yasin*

 

Faculty of Chemical Engineering & Natural Resources,

Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26300 Gambang, Pahang, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author: hidayahyassin@ump.edu.my

 

 

Received: 28 November 2016; Accepted: 5 February 2017

 

 

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the optimum condition of oil extraction method to extract maximum oil yield from freshwater microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. The modified soxhlet extraction method was used to identify the best solvent systems which are heptane, heptane: methanol (1:1), heptane: methanol (1:2), heptane: ethanol (1:1) and heptane: ethanol (1:2) for extracting the microalgae oil. The effect of different mixing rate (rpm), temperature (^oC) and extraction time (hours) were carried out using the optimized solvent system to evaluate the optimum condition of oil extraction. Based on the yield of oil extraction, heptane alone become the best solvent to extract the oil with the yield of 57.5%, followed by heptane: methanol (1:2), heptane: ethanol (1:1), heptane: ethanol (1:2) and heptane: methanol (1:1) with the yield of 47.5%, 44.8%, 43.2% and 41.4%, respectively. Maximum oil quantity of 61.27% was obtained after extracted the Chlorella vulgaris biomass using heptane as a solvent at the following optimal conditions: mixing rate of 600 rpm, temperature of 65 °C and extraction time of 5 hours. This study confirmed that an increasing temperature resulted in the increased of oil yield, but at higher temperature (greater than 65 °C), the oil yield was decreasing. Too high of temperature in oil extraction may cause partial decomposition of the microalgae cells and thus lowering the yield of oil extracted.

 

Keywords:  soxhlet extraction, oil extraction, freshwater microalgae, Chlorella vulgaris, solvent systems

 

Abstrak

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji keadaan optimum bagi kaedah pengekstrakan minyak dalam usaha untuk mendapatkan hasil minyak maksimum daripada mikroalga air tawar Chlorella vulgaris. Kaedah pengekstrakan soxhlet yang diubah suai digunakan untuk mengenal pasti sistem pelarut yang terbaik iaitu heptana, heptana: metanol (1:1), heptana: metanol (1:2), heptana: etanol (1:1) dan heptana: etanol (1:2) untuk mengekstrak minyak mikroalga. Kesan daripada kadar pencampuran yang berbeza (rpm), suhu (^oC) dan masa pengekstrakan (jam) telah dijalankan dengan menggunakan sistem pelarut yang telah dioptimumkan untuk menilai keadaan optimum pengekstrakan minyak. Berdasarkan hasil pengeluaran minyak, heptana bersendirian menjadi pelarut terbaik untuk mengeluarkan minyak dengan hasil sebanyak 57.5%, diikuti oleh heptana: metanol (1:2), heptana: etanol (1:1), heptana: etanol (1:2) dan heptana: metanol (1:1) dengan hasil masing – masing 47.5%, 44.8%, 43.2% dan 41.4%. Kuantiti minyak maksimum 61.27% telah diperolehi selepas biojisim Chlorella vulgaris diekstrak menggunakan heptana sebagai pelarut pada keadaan optimum berikut: kadar percampuran 600 rpm, suhu 65 ^oC dan 5 jam masa pengekstrakan. Kajian ini mengesahkan bahawa suhu meningkat menyebabkan peningkatan hasil minyak, tetapi pada suhu yang lebih tinggi (lebih daripada 65 ^oC), hasil minyak telah berkurangan. Suhu yang terlalu tinggi dalam pengekstrakan minyak boleh menyebabkan penguraian sebahagian daripada sel-sel alga dan seterusnya mengurangkan hasil minyak yang dikeluarkan.

 

Kata kunci:  pengekstrakan soxhlet, pengekstrakan minyak, mikroalga air tawar, Chlorella vulgaris, sistem pelarut

 

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