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1054342 
Journal Article 
Extraction of hydrocarbons from microalga Botryococcus braunii with switchable solvents 
Samorì, C; Torri, C; Samorì, G; Fabbri, D; Galletti, P; Guerrini, F; Pistocchi, R; Tagliavini, E 
2010 
Yes 
Bioresource Technology
ISSN: 0960-8524
EISSN: 1873-2976 
ELSEVIER SCI LTD 
OXFORD 
101 
9 
3274-3279 
English 
20071168 
WOS:000274972600052 
Lipid extraction is a critical step in the development of biofuels from microalgae. Here a new procedure was proposed to extract hydrocarbons from dried and water-suspended samples of the microalga Botryococcus braunii by using switchable-polarity solvents (SPS) based on 1,8-diazabicyclo-[5.4.0]-undec-7-ene (DBU) and an alcohol. The high affinity of the non-ionic form of DBU/alcohol SPS towards non-polar compounds was exploited to extract hydrocarbons from algae, while the ionic character of the DBU-alkyl carbonate form, obtained by the addition of CO(2), was used to recover hydrocarbons from the SPS. DBU/octanol and DBU/ethanol SPS were tested for the extraction efficiency of lipids from freeze-dried B. braunii samples and compared with n-hexane and chloroform/methanol. The DBU/octanol system was further evaluated for the extraction of hydrocarbons directly from algal culture samples. DBU/octanol exhibited the highest yields of extracted hydrocarbons from both freeze-dried and liquid algal samples (16% and 8.2% respectively against 7.8% and 5.6% with n-hexane). 
Switchable-polarity solvents; Microalgae; Botryococcus braunii; Hydrocarbons; Biofuel 
IRIS
• Methanol (Non-Cancer)
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