ASABE Technical Library - Abstract

Abstract. The use of aqueous enzymatic extraction (AEE), a non-solvent and environmentally friendly bioproduct recovery method, provides an opportunity to design an integrated process for protein and oil fractionation to reduce costs of bioenergy production. To design an efficient enzymatic treatment for lipid extraction, it is necessary to understand lipid body formation and attachment to organelles in microalgae cells. A study was conducted for the establishment of an enzymatic treatment and extraction process for oil and native proteins from wild type Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. This microalgae has a demonstrated potential to serve as an expression platform for a variety of bioproducts. Advances in biochemical and molecular manipulation have led to increased biomass productivity and oil acclamation in C. reinhardtii. This work describes the application of C. reinhardtii-produced autolysin for lysis of the microalgae cell wall followed by treatment with trypsin for chloroplast and lipid body lysis. Protein recovery and lipid characterization after autolysin treatment indicated a 54% release of total soluble protein and a localization of lipids to the chloroplast. Additionally the development of secondary enzyme treatment (trypsin) for chloroplast and oil body lysis demonstrated a higher percent of total lipids released into the supernatant. Taken together, results indicate the application of an enzymatic treatment scheme for protein and oil recovery as a promising alternative to traditional extraction processes.