Extraction of chlorophyll from wild and farmed Ulva spp. using aqueous solutions of ionic liquids

Overview & Synopsis

Products extracted from natural resources are an increasing trend in several !elds promoted by consumer demand. Allied to the importance attached to the concept of “natural product” should be the way the “natural product” is obtained. In this work, chlorophyll was extracted from batches of wild-harvested and farm-raised green macroalgae Ulva spp. from two di"erent European locations, Portugal and France. The performance of di"erent aqueous solutions of tensioactive compounds such as ionic liquids and common surfactants in the yield of extraction of chlorophyll was studied and the operational conditions of extraction were optimized. The e"ect of drying the biomass on the yield of extraction of chlorophyll was evaluated as well as the e"ect of both locations (and the speci!c conditions of each location in terms of nutrients, water temperature and light intensity) in chlorophyll production. After optimization of all operational conditions, a maximum yield of extraction of 5.96 mgchl·gdry algae−1 was obtained using 250 mM of tributyltetradecylphosphonium chloride ([P4,4,4,14]Cl). The use of this solvent has allowed the development of a cost-e"ective (conclusion obtained after the economic analysis) and e#cient process capable of maintaining the stability of the !nal product for more than one month.