Abbas Mehrabadi - School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran University (UT), Tehran, Iran
Omid Tavakoli - School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran University (UT), Tehran, Iran
Reza Ranjbar - Department of Chemical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT), Tehran, Iran
Nasrin Moazami - Department of Biotechnology, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), Tehran, Iran

Biodiesel production from microalgae is the main alternative liquid fuel to replace with petroleum diesel and the other liquid fuel in transportation sector. One of the most important stages in biodiesel production from microalgae is lipid extraction and its efficiency. In this study Bligh and Dyer, known as the best method for lipid extraction from biological tissues, was used. For enhancing yield of extraction, the influence of three pretreatment techniques including: blending, sonification and freeze-thaw on Bligh and Dyer method was investigated. The results showed that the blending has a higher efficiency on lipid extraction from microalgae and the yield of extraction with freeze-thaw as pretreatment method was lowest even comparing to the extraction by Bligh and Dyer and without any pretreatment.

Biodiesel, Microalgae, Lipid extraction, Bligh and Dyer, Pretreatment techniques