WASTE-FREE TECHNOLOGY OF CHLORELLA SOROKINIANA MICROALGAE BIOMASS USAGE FOR LIPIDS AND SORBENTS PRODUCTION

Abstract

In the present article we introduce application areas of Сhlorella sorokiniana microalgae biomass for national economy (feed and biologically active additives, etc). Here it is shown that thermal and chemical modification of plant material waste might result in obtaining of highly-efficient materials for water purification. Major stages of waste-free technology of microalga processing with further extraction of valuable lipids and obtaining of sorption materials are schematically shown. We have determined fatty-acid content of lipid fraction (77 mg/g), obtained by Soxhlet method from lyophilized microalga biomass. It was revealed, that it includes 83.7% of unsaturated fatty acids (generally, С_18:1, С_18:2, С_18:3), whereas saturated fatty acids are mostly presented by С₁₆ – С₂₀ family. In lyophilized biomass we discovered α-linolenoic acid (Omega-3, 28.3%), which is one of the most valuable biologically active compounds, required for full-value human life and activities. Microstructure analysis of residual biomass of C. sorokiniana microalgae has shown pore surface, formed by destroyed cells. In the course of studying the sorption properties of residual biomass with the use of initial and final concentration parameters, the efficiency of purification of model water from Fe³⁺ ions (47.5%) was evaluated, which indicates the need to modify the sorption properties of biomass. It has been established that the degree of wastewater purification containing iron (III) compounds can be significantly increased (by 1.8 times) by forming from the residual biomass granular materials with additional introduction of chitosan in the composition, which using as a binder and a modifying additive (mass ratio 4:1).