%0 Journal Article
%T Use of a Combined Technology of Ultrasonication, Three-Phase Partitioning, and Aqueous Enzymatic Oil Extraction for the Extraction of Oil from Spirogyra sp.
%A Adisheshu Reddy
%A Abir B. Majumder
%J Journal of Engineering
%D 2014
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2014/740631
%X Algal oil from Spirogyra sp. was extracted using a combined technology of ultrasonication, three-phase partitioning, and aqueous enzymatic oil extraction. Ultrasonication was done to rupture the cell wall and papain was used for an easier release of the trapped oil. The salt concentration for three-phase partitioning, preincubation period with (or without) the protease, and its operational temperature were optimized for a maximum possible yield of the oil and the effect of ultrasonication, and three-phase partitioning with (or without) the protease were studied. It was found that under optimized conditions at 50% ammonium sulphate concentration using tert-butanol (in 1£¿:£¿1, v/v ratio) a presonicated and papain treated algal suspension could produce 24% (w/w, dry weight) oil within few hours which was ten times higher as compared to the oil obtained by Soxhlet extraction using hexane and two times higher than the oil obtained without using the protease. 1. Introduction In past few decades preparation of biofuels from the waste materials has been a matter of great interest [1¨C3]. A more recent alternative which has been in focus for acting as a source of oil is algae [1, 2, 4]. The algae which have been found most effective as triacylglycerols (TAG) source are microalgae. Depending upon the species and the extraction process, the TAG content (%, dry weight of the algae) in microalgae can reach beyond 90% which is much higher than the reported values (20¨C30%) for macroalgae [5¨C7]. However, extraction of oil from macroalgae has continued to be a matter of research [4, 5, 8]. In the present work Spirogyra sp. has been evaluated as the source of oil. Apart from its widespread availability one attractive feature of Spirogyra cell is its simple cell wall which can be easily ruptured [9]. Hence the algae need more attention and should be explored with advanced technologies which speed up the extraction process and improve the yield of the oil. One of the recent techniques which has been attractive to the scientists for oil extraction is the use of Three-Phase Partitioning (TPP) [10¨C12]. Three-Phase Partitioning (TPP) uses tert-butanol and ammonium sulfate to precipitate enzymes and proteins from aqueous solutions. TPP can be used effectively with crude samples and can be easily scaled up. tert-Butanol seems to bind with TPP-precipitated proteins which are actually protein-tert-butanol coprecipitates float in between organic and aqueous layer. Buoyancy of this protein bound tert-butanol above the denser saline aqueous medium and presence of sulphate ion in large
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/je/2014/740631/