Qualitative and quantitative study of the lipid fraction of microalgae

Identifier:  TFG:1210

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFG1210

Authors:  Rodríguez Magriñà, Sònia

Abstract:
To meet the growing interest of using microalgae biomass in the production of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products, we need suitable analytical methods and a comprehensive data base to characterize lipid components. The aim of this project was to identify and quantify the different fatty acids in microalgae of interest to the company through gas chromatography and develop a method of solid phase extraction (SPE) to split fat in different families lipids (neutral, free and polar). The identification and quantification of fatty acids in each type of microalgae by GC-FID and GC-MS was successful and the amount of fatty acids methyl esters (FAME) total of each of the samples could be calculated. Microalgae lipids were fractionated into neutral lipids (NL), free fatty acids (FFA) and polar lipids (PL) using solid phase extraction (SPE) with aminopropyl bonded phase columns. The method was developed with standard lipid mixtures and applied to real samples. Each fraction of SPE was analyzed using GC-FID. Significant differences and complexities of fatty acid composition among the microalgae tested were observed. The compositional information is valuable for strain selection, biomass fractionation and utilization.