Current application of electrical pre-treatment for enhanced microalgal biomolecules extraction

Abdul Azim Bin Azmi; Revathy Sankaran; Pau Loke Show; Tau Chuan Ling; Yang Tao; Heli Siti Halimatul Munawaroh; Pei San Kong; Duu-Jong Lee; Jo-Shu Chang

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122874

Current application of electrical pre-treatment for enhanced microalgal biomolecules extraction

Bioresour Technol. 2020 Apr:302:122874. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122874. Epub 2020 Jan 23.

Authors

Abdul Azim Bin Azmi¹, Revathy Sankaran², Pau Loke Show¹, Tau Chuan Ling², Yang Tao³, Heli Siti Halimatul Munawaroh⁴, Pei San Kong⁵, Duu-Jong Lee⁶, Jo-Shu Chang⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, Semenyih 43500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
² Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
³ College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210095, China.
⁴ Chemistry Program, Department of Chemistry Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia.
⁵ Sime Darby Plantation Research Sdn. Bhd. (formerly known as Sime Darby Research Sdn. Bhd.) (Company No. 560590-X), R&D Centre, Lot 2664, Jalan Pulau Carey, 42960 Pulau Carey, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan; Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan; Center for Nanotechnology, Tunghai University, Taichung 407, Taiwan; Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan. Electronic address: changjs@mail.ncku.edu.tw.

PMID: 32007308
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.122874

Abstract

Pretreatment of microalgal biomass possessing rigid cell wall is a critical step for enhancing the efficiency of microalgal biorefinery. However, the conventional pretreatment processes suffer the drawbacks of complex processing steps, long processing time, low conversion efficiency and high processing costs. This significantly hinders the industrial applicability of microalgal biorefinery. The innovative electricity-aid pretreatment techniques serve as a promising processing tool to extensively enhance the release of intracellular substances from microalgae. In this review, application of electric field-based techniques and recent advances of using electrical pretreatments on microalgae cell focusing on pulsed electric field, electrolysis, high voltage electrical discharges and moderate electric field are reviewed. In addition, the emerging techniques integrating electrolysis with liquid biphasic flotation process as promising downstream approach is discussed. This review delivers broad knowledge of the present significance of the application of these methods focusing on the development of electric assisted biomolecules extraction from microalgae.

Keywords: Electric-field; Liquid biphasic flotation; Microalgae; Pretreatment; Proteins.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biomass
Cell Wall
Electricity
Electrolysis
Microalgae*