New Discoveries in Study on Hydrocarbons From Thermal Degradation of Heterotrophically Yellowing Algae

Green autotrophic alga Chlorella protothecoides contains a very small quantity of hydrocarbons. Heterotrophic culture of this alga results in the cells yellowing, chlorophyll disappearing, protein decreasing and lipid increasing remarkably. The quantities of hydrocarbons from them directly and from the thermal degradation of the cells at or below 200℃ are very low. These hydrocarbons are characterized by predominance of high molecular weight normal alkanes with maximum at C23-C25. When these heterotrophi-cally yellowing cells are thermally degraded at 300℃ , the aliphatic hydrocarbons increase greatly, 32 times that of the green autotrophic ones at the same temperature. Meanwhile, the low molecular weight normal alkanes with C17 as the peak become predominant instead of the original ones of high molecular weight. The actual potential of microplanktonic algae in producing hydrocarbons should be much greater than what people have recognized before.