Volatile fraction and aroma properties of microalgae Scenedesmus obliquus

Abstract

Microalgae have great potential to become a new crop that could significantly impact the world's need for food in the 21st century. Despite their potential as a food ingredient, microalgae need social acceptance as food. In addition, organoleptic traits, such as aroma, are key factors for humans to accept microalgae as part of their diet. In this sense, some requirements such as culture, species, and environmental conditions are extremely important for these microorganisms that are capable of producing a wide range of volatile organic compounds, such as alcohols, hydrocarbons, esters, aldehydes, terpenes, ketones, and lactones. Thus, the aim of the study was to characterize volatile organic compounds with an aroma descriptor from the microalgal biomass of Scenedesmus obliquus. The volatile compounds were isolated by solid-phase microextraction applied in the headspace, detected by gas chromatography, and differentiated by mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC/MS). The results showed that hexanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol, and 1-propanol were identified as the most abundant volatiles in the biomass of Scenedesmus obliquus.