Obtaining highly pure EPA-rich lipids from dry and wet Nannochloropsis gaditana microalgal biomass using ethanol, hexane and acetone

Saponifiable lipids (SLs), rich in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), were extracted and purified from Nannochloropsis gaditana biomass. Firstly, the SLs were extracted using ethanol (96% v/v). The influence of the following operational variables was studied: water content of the wet biomass, solvent/biomass ratio, homogenization pressure and temperature. SL yields of 92–99 wt% and 80–90 wt% were achieved from dry and wet biomass, respectively, under various operational conditions from batches with different SL contents and lipid profiles. These SLs were extracted with only a 20–22 wt% purity, which was increased to 42% (100 wt% yield) by extracting the SLs with hexane. In this hexane extraction step, it was important to extract the SLs from a highly concentrated hydroethanolic solution. The SL purity was further increased to 95 wt% by acetone crystallization. Throughout this extraction-purification process, SLs were fractionated into neutral lipids, glycolipids and phospholipids - neutral lipids were recovered with higher yields than were glycolipids and phospholipids. The energy consumption per unit mass of extracted lipids was estimated, along with the solvent recovery, and compared for the dry and wet methods. When wet biomass was used, the presence of water significantly increased the energy required for ethanol. However, when cost and capacity of the main equipment (freeze-dryer, homogenizer and centrifuge) were considered, SL extraction from high pressure homogenized wet biomass resulted in a lower economic cost.