Broad-spectrum light-responsive deep eutectic solvents for ambient microalgae disintegration with intact fractions.

Authors

Huan Wang, Jianfeng Ma, Bing Song, Hongguo Wu, Song Yang, Hu Li

Published in

Journal of advanced research. Aug 09, 2026. Epub Aug 09, 2026.

Abstract

Rationally integrating microalgae valorization is pivotal to sustainable and cost-competitive biorefineries. However, a trade-off exists between effective disintegration of recalcitrant microalgae and retention of biomolecular integrity.
This study aims to develop a mild, light-responsive pretreatment platform that reconciles structure integrity-efficiency trade-off without relying on energy-intensive external reinforcement.
An "(in)organic hybridizing dual-amplification" maneuver is delivered to construct a ternary deep eutectic solvent (DES) system composed of Fe³⁺, α-hydroxycarboxylic acid, and water. The system's performance is evaluated under ambient light irradiation for a short duration (2 h). Mechanistic insights are obtained through theoretical calculations and spectroscopy, while the economic viability was assessed via life cycle cost analysis.
Under ambient light, this light-responsive DES system fractionates microalgae into lipids (extraction efficiency of 91.6%, based on saponifiable lipids), conserving functional fatty acids, carbohydrates amenable to digestibility, and high-recovery protein (80.4%, comprising 16.2% soluble and 64.2% natively conformation-preserved fraction). Furthermore, both the extracted microalgal lipids and microbial lipids synthesized from carbohydrates can be converted into ASTM D6751-compliant biodiesel, with the DES retaining efficiency and stability after six recycles. Life cycle cost analysis verifies the economic competitiveness of the developed protocol. Mechanism studies revealed that α-hydroxycarboxylic acid, featuring dual H-bond donor/acceptor characters, cooperates with Fe³⁺ and water to form a supramolecular network that competitively reconfigures the cell wall hydrogen-bonding architecture and lowers constituents' binding energy. Meanwhile, Fe³⁺ forms photo-active complexes with α-hydroxycarboxylic acid as electron shuttles, coupling broad-spectrum ligand-to-metal charge transfer with oxidant-free photo-Fenton process, propelling controllable Fe-redox cycling and sustained radical generation for efficient and facile microalgae disintegration cooperatively.
The dual-amplification strategy successfully overcomes the kinetic constraints of traditional photo-Fenton processes and the recalcitrance of cell walls. By enabling efficient, ambient-light-driven disintegration while preserving component integrity, this work provides a scalable and sustainable technological strategy for biomass biorefining.

PMID:
42571849
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Aug 2026.

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