Microalgal cell disruption via extrusion for the production of intracellular valuables

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of extrusion on cell disruption of a marine alga Nannochloropsis oceanica with a single-screw extruder for the production of intracellular valuables. The effect of operating parameters including feed moisture (15–24%) and screw rotation speed (300–450 rpm) was also determined. Experimental results demonstrated that extrusion was effective in algal cell disruption indicated by direct observation of cell break-up through scanning electron microscope (SEM) and significant increases up to 94.3% and 68.7% in lipid and sugars yield, respectively between treatments and the control (no treatment). It was found that feed moisture (15%) generally improved cell disruption efficiency due to longer residence time of biomass in the extruder. Increasing screw rotation speed from 300 to 450 rpm tended to enhance cell disruption because of stronger shear forces on algae. However, the effectiveness was restricted by residence time of biomass in the extruder because a faster screw rotation speed resulted in a higher biomass flow rate. Thus, the optimal cell disruption was not always achieved at the fastest screw rotation speed; instead, it appeared at the levels depending on specific evaluation indicators (around 350 rpm), therefore the optimal conditions for algal cell disruption were obtained at about 15% of feed moisture and 350 rpm of screw rotation speed. This study also confirmed that extrusion was beneficial for the production of more valuables including polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and essential amino acids (EAA) from microalgae, for example up to 74.3% increase of PUFA and 20.5% increase of EAA after extrusion compared to the control.