Microalgae lipid extraction
5 g of dried C. vulgaris biomass was placed in cellulose thimble
and extraction process was performed using Soxhlet extractor.
Four types of solvent were used to compare the extraction efficiency,
such as n-hexane, methanol, ethanol and Bligh and Dyer
method (mixed methanol-chloroform with volume ratio of 2:1). A
total of 250 mL for each solvent was placed in Soxhlet extractor
and heated at 60–65 ◦C for 24 h. After that, the solvent was evaporated
in a rotary evaporator and the leftover lipid was collected.
The residues (solid material) after evaporation were subjected to
repeated extraction twice using the same solvent. Thereafter, crude
microalgae lipids were measured gravimetrically. All samplings
were performed in triplicate but only the average values were
reported.