The current bottleneck in competitive utilization of algae for biofuel is cost effective oil extraction. Traditional methods such as ultrasound and high shear homogenizers can extract oil from algae cells, but emulsify the oil as quickly as it is extracted from the cells with the surrounding water. The over-processed, emulsified algae oil/water mixtures are rendered difficult and expensive to separate. Nanospire cavitation high-shear technology can be tuned to cost effectively extract the oil from algae cells without emulsifying the extracted oil. Cells are impacted at a firing rate using tiny jets that pierce the cells and release the oil, but do not over-process and emulsify the resulting oil/water/membrane mixture. Our results show oil floating to the top and cell membranes sinking to the bottom after processing (left). This is accomplished at a fraction of the energy and price per gallon required by other high-shear technologies. Similarly, the ultra high-shear technology instead cause emulsification, for water/fuel emulsification.
