P-47 The effects of mechanical disruption method on the mechanism of the extraction of hydrocarbon from Botryococcus braunii

Abstract

To investigate the mechanism of mechanical hydrocarbon extraction from microalgae, B. braunii was disrupted by a bead mill and a Jet-Paster. The particle size distribution and morphology of the treated microalgae and the amount of the hydrocarbon extracted with n-hexane were measured, and the polymers around its colonies were observed. As a result, the particle size and morphology of the samples changed and the hydrocarbon extraction rates increased with disruption. Although the morphologies between samples disrupted by the Jet-Paster and bead mill were similar tendency, the extraction rate of the sample treated at 4800 rpm by the Jet-Paster showed higher than that of the sample treated by bead mill. This is because that almost all the polymers around colonies were broken by the Jet-Paster.