Tetraselmis striata M8, which is a marine algae with high lipid accumulation ability, was cultured in 40 L airlift photobioreactors at the University of Queensland. F/2 medium was used as the growth media. Culture pH was kept constant at 8.5 ± 0.2 by CO2 injection with an electronic controller, and the depletion of nutrients (NO3 and PO43) was tested using seawater aquaria nutrients kits (DAPI Aquarium Pharmaceuticals for NO3 and Nutrafin for PO43). Nitrogen starvation strategy was used to accumulate lipids in the algal cells. After 5 days cultivation for algae growth and 3 days for lipid accumulation, 90 L algal culture was concentrated to a paste by centrifugation in a Beckman Coulter, Allegra™ X-12 at 3750 rpm for 3 min in 800 ml batches. Centrifugation was conducted for a short time to avoid mechanical cell disruption