title: Improving energetics of triacylglyceride extraction from wet oleaginous microbes.
abstract: Oleaginous microbes can upgrade carbon to lipids, which can be used as a feedstock to produce renewable replacements for petroleum-based compounds. Efficient extraction of lipids from oleaginous microbes typically involves dewatering and drying of the biomass. Problematically, drying often requires an amount of energy approaching that available from the cells. Here, we report an approach for the high efficiency extraction of triacylglycerides (TAG) from wet oleaginous microbes, bypassing the drying process. Solvent candidates for extraction of wet oleaginous biomass were identified using ASPEN's databases to determine an activity based selectivity coefficient. Optimal extraction conditions were determined which resulted in >91% extraction of TAG from yeast, bacteria, and microalgae. Experimental data was integrated into system models to evaluate the energetics of the processes compared to traditional extraction methods. The net energy ratio (NER) of a traditional dry solvent extraction is 0.84, whereas the approach presented here has a NER of 0.34 for yeast.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Utah State University, 0300 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, United States.
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Willis
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Utah State University, 0300 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, United States.
authors.forename: Alex T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: McCurdy
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Utah State University, 0300 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, United States.
authors.forename: Mariah K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Ogborn
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Utah State University, 0300 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, United States.
authors.forename: Bradley D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Wahlen
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Utah State University, Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, United States.
authors.forename: Jason C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.affiliation: Departments of Chemical Engineering, Internal Medicine and Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Utah, 50 South Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States.
authors.forename: Leonard F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Pease
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Utah State University, 0300 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, United States. Electronic address: lance.seefeldt@usu.edu.
authors.forename: Lance C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Seefeldt
mesh_terms: D003454:Cryptococcus / Q000378:metabolism*; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D059627:Liquid Phase Microextraction; D058086:Microalgae / Q000378:metabolism*; D009821:Oils / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012997:Solvents; D013997:Time Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009821:Oils; D012997:Solvents; D014280:Triglycerides; D014867:Water
keywords: Bacteria; Lipid extraction; Microalgae; Wet cell extraction; Yeast