Extraction and Quantification of Chlorophyll from Microalgae Chlorella sp.

Algal biomass emerged as a potential source of bioenergy and valuable derivatives in recent years. The major characteristics of microalgae such as high oil contents, carbon sequestration, high growth rate and valuable by-products are leading factors to compete with traditional resources. The aim of current study was (i) to extract and optimize chlorophylls (a and b) at temperature (30-40°C) and time (60-120 min) by ultrasonication assisted with methanol: hexane (2:1v/v) (ii) to find suitable dilution factor for chlorophyll analysis by UV spectroscopy considering 1:10, 1:15,1:20 ml/ml and (iii) to determine suitability of dissolving methanol/hexane extract in different solvents for analysis and quantification by simultaneous equations. The full factorial design RSM was employed and found that model is well fitted (0.99 R2). Maximum recovery of total chlorophylls (a and b) was 17.15 μg/ml achieved at 30 °C and 120 min. The absorbance spectra peaks were found good with a dilution factor of 1:20 ml/ml. Dissolving the extract for analysis in same solvent is suitable choice even though acetone shows sharp peaks, but not in agreement with beer law. These pigments have a high market in pharmaceutical, dietary products, and food industry and recovery of these compounds can play an important role to make bioprocess industry more economical.