Comparisons of the Antarctic krill lipid extraction methods

In order to provide certain base for the Antarctic krill lipid research the lipid difference of Antarctic krill by using chloroform methanol, 95% ethanol, hexane method and supercritical CO2 were discussed. The result showed that the content of lipid using chloroform methanol was the highest, about 19.21%±0.59%. The content of lipid using hexane was the lowest and its triglycerides and cholesterol content was about 46.98%±1.00% and 3.68%±0.30% respectively. But the extraction efficiency of polarity lipid using hexane was not ideal as it contained only 19.20%±3.45% phospholipids. The content of polarity lipid using 95% ethanol was relatively higher which included 35.59%±2.69% phospholipids, and the content of EPA and DHA was the highest which included 41.13% of the total lipids. And 95% ethanol method was more safety and cheaper, so it was suitable for large-scale industrialized production and could be further discussed. The lipid extracted by supercritical CO2 technology which was a mild methods for of lipid extraction was approximate with chloroform methanol. Supercritical CO2 extraction technology was more secure, but the high cost of supercritical equipment was not suitable for the industrial production of small and medium-sized enterprises.