Kinetic Study of Subcritical Water Extraction of Carbohydrate from Microalgae Nannochloropsis sp.

Microalgae contain a significant amount of carbohydrates that can be converted further to produce valuable compounds. To extract carbohydrates from microalgae, sub-critical water extraction (SWE) is a viable and novel method. Compared to other existing chemical and biological extraction methods, SWE is more economical, effective, and efficient in terms of process conditions. This process uses high temperature and pressure of water at just below supercritical conditions to keep water at a liquid state. This study aims to investigate the factors that affect the extraction yield of carbohydrates from microalgae Nannochloropsis sp . using the SWE process. The extraction was carried out at a temperature of 160 – 320 o C, a duration of 5 – 25 min, and microalgal biomass loading of 5 - 25% w/v. The kinetics study was conducted in an extraction time of 5 – 25 min at 200 o C and 5% (w/v) biomass loading. A simplified kinetic model based on a consecutive reaction was used to describe carbohydrate production and decomposition via SWE. It was found that the maximum yield of total carbohydrate was 18.04 g/100 g which was obtained at 200 o C, 10 min, and 5% (w/v) microalgal biomass loading. The carbohydrate concentration was decreased as the temperature, extraction time and microalgal biomass loading increased. This result indicated that the SWE is a promising extraction method for carbohydrate recovery from microalgae, and the factors investigated here had a significant effect on the extraction process. The proposed kinetic model was also able to capture the experimental data well within the range of operating conditions studied in this work.