Published in Scientific Papers. Series B, Horticulture, Vol. LXVI, Issue 2
Written by Carmen Gabriela CONSTANTIN, Ioana-Cătălina NICOLAE, Aurora DOBRIN, Andrei MOȚ
Nannochloropsis sp. is a microalga of particular interest for the production of lipids containing omega 3 - fatty acids, specifically eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), a fatty acid mostly found in the flesh of cold-water fish and crustaceans with high importance in human health. Because of the rigid cell wall structure of Nannochloropsis sp., the extract of EPA requires specific methods. There are certain critical points regarding lipidic extraction: the application in food and feed, and the fractionation methods that provide a high recovery rate of EPA. Therefore, green extraction methods have recently gained more and more interest, having minimal environmental and health impacts, as they use less or no organic solvents, being sustainable productive, and efficient. The methods used for lipid extraction should ensure that during the process, the lipid extraction is obtained without influencing the fatty acid composition. The purpose of this review is to summarize the existing research parameters regarding different green extraction methods applied for obtaining lipid fractions, emphasis on supercritical fluid extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, and accelerated solvent extraction methods.
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