Even though the classic Folch chloroform-based lipid extraction
protocol is effective for the majority of microalgal lipid analyses, an
alternative organic solvent method that is more user-friendly is
needed for scale-up. Hexane,
despite being reported to be less efficient than chloroform when extracting from microalgae, is less toxic, has minimal affinity towards non-lipid contaminants, and
apparent higher selectivity towards neutral lipid fractions