Abstract: The bead beating method was used to disrupt the lyophilized and wet cells of Chlorella sp.. The kinetics and specific energy consumption of cell disruption were investigated in order to determine the effect of the degree of cell disruption (as reflected by the amount of released chlorophyll) on carotenoid extraction. The results showed that the first-order dynamic equation could well describe the cell disruption process. The maximum extraction efficiencies of carotenoid of 6.38 and 6.26 mg/g were obtained when the percentage disruption of lyophilized and wet cells were 70% and 90%, respectively. It was found that the energy consumption required for disruption of wet cells was higher than that required for lyophilized cells. Consistent results were observed from the disruption of lyophilized cells in the concentration range of 40–160 g/L and carotenoid extraction using the same specific energy consumption. For wet cells at 80 g/L, higher cell disruption and carotenoid extraction efficiencies could be obtained even at lower specific energy consumption. The results of this study can provide both theoretical and experimental evidence for the cell disruption of Chlorella sp., and the development and utilization of its effective components.

Key words: Chlorella sp., bead beating, kinetic analysis, specific energy consumpti on, carotenoid, cell disruption