The chromatogram of the pyrolysis products from bovine serum is plotted in Fig. 1. The marker compound selected to represent the protein fraction from microalgae is Indole. This compound was selected as it was not identified in any other structural model compounds investigated and had a relatively large peak area in the pyrolysis chromatogram. The total percentage area of the Indole peak is 4.3%. Toluene (14.2%) was also found to be a major product of bovine serum pyrolysis but this compound was also detected as a pyrolysis product of pigments.