Identification and Quantification of Sugar and Oil From Arkansas-Native Algae

Green algae grow commonly at phosphate removal raceway placed at Fayetteville waste water treatment plants. Samples from May to September 2010 were harvested from the Noland waste water treatment facility. The algae were analyzed for its oil and sugar content. Dilute acid pretreatment with 1% sulfuric acid, 160 ˚C for 60 minutes combined with an enzymatic hydrolysis step were used to release the carbohydrates from the algae. Separately, hexane was used to extract oil from the algae sample. The results indicated that the oil and sugar content of algae did vary according to months: 5.4% glucose and 1.8% xylose for May, 3.6% glucose and 4.0% xylose for June, 3.1% glucose and 3.4% xylose for July, 3.5% glucose and 3.6% xylose for September. All the algae samples had glucose and xylose in less than 10% total of their dry mass, and the oil content in algae is less than 3% mass of the overall algae mass, which is lower than algae used for biofuel that typically contains 30% oil.