Dichloromethane as an alternative to chloroform in the extraction of single cell oil from Rhodotorula toruloides
Dichloromethane (methylene chloride) was evaluated as an alternative to chloroform in the extraction of single cell oils from the yeast Rhodotorula toruloides. Dichloromethane was proposed as a potentially more environmentally friendly substitute since it is nearly 15% less expensive and has a toxicity threshold to human health that is approximately 20 times higher if compared to chloroform.A three-factor factorial experiment was designed in order to test the efficacy of the proposed solvent in the extraction process, as well as the volume of solvent and time of extraction, the response variable being the mass fraction of extracted lipids. The results show that all the three variables had a significant and positive effect on the response variable since all p-values were less than 0.005 (99% confidence). Therefore, for this study, the best experimental condition for the extraction was determined to be one with 80 mL of dichloromethane and 24 h of extraction. In general, the results showed that dichloromethane is an alternative to chloroform in lipid extraction from Rhodotorula toruloides, without compromise on extraction efficiency.