Not being absolute, one best cell disruption reported is the ultrasound. It is also efficient and works in slurry form. I recommend you this paper,

J. Kim et al. / Biotechnology Advances 31 (2013) 862–876

Hi,

I usually use glass microbeads: algae pellet + glass beads + buffer and this is placed in homogenizer or multitube vortex. Then I use centrifuge to separate supernatant form the debris. However, the metod of cells disruption depend on the purpose, for example for thylakoids isolation the best technique is to use French press 

Regrds,

Anna

Hi

I work with Chlorella Vulgaris and I found that either microwave or sonications do not work well. So,  I use a solution 30% triton x-100 in ethanol to lyse the cells,  then incubate at 100°C for 5min and finally centrifuge at 13400rpm for 2min to separate supernatant from debris. 

RegardaRegards 

hi

I work with halophyte microalgae. If your organism is halophyte, you can treat cells (after centrifugation) with water and then cells disrupt.  

Cell wall disruption is considered essential to release the carbohydrates and sugars to maximise bioethanol yields. A sugar extraction efficiency of 96 % has been achieved by acid hydrolysis of dried Scenedesmus biomass 1. Ultrasonic cell disruption followed by enzymatic saccharification released 64 %, of the dry biomass of Chlorococcum, as glucose that could be fermented to ethanol 2. Enzyme pre-treatment of Chlamydomonas, liquefaction by amylase followed by enzymatic saccharification, yielded 23.5 % w/w ethanol after fermentation 3. The alkaline pre-treatment of cells to release fermentable sugars increased the ethanol production from Chlorococcum biomass containing 33 % carbohydrate, with a maximum yield of 26 % w/w of the dry biomass 4.

1.             J. R. Miranda, P. C. Passarinho and L. Gouveia, Bioresource Technology 104, 342-348 (2012).

2.             R. Harun and M. K. Danquah, Chemical Engineering Journal 168 (3), 1079-1084 (2011).

3.             S. P. Choi, M. T. Nguyen and S. J. Sim, Bioresource Technology 101 (14), 5330-5336 (2010).

4.             R. Harun, W. S. Y. Jason, T. Cherrington and M. K. Danquah, Appl. Energy 88 (10), 3464-3467 (2011).

Intact cell walls hamper lipid recovery and the most effective methods of recovery are from disrupted algal cells 1. Mechanical pressing is the industry standard for oil recovery from oilseeds for both food and biofuel production, but it is ineffective for micro-algae 2. A number of cell disruption techniques have been applied to micro-algae, but mechanical disruption is generally considered preferable to chemical disruption as it avoids chemical contamination and preserves the functionality of the cell contents 3. The breaking of cell walls can require large amounts of energy, and can be achieved by ultrasound, milling, autoclaving or homogenisation 4. Homogenisation can be very efficient, with between 77 and 96 % of algal cells ruptured per pass 5, but to homogenise 10 l of algal suspension with algal cell concentrations between 100 and 200 g l-1 requires 1.5-2.0 kWh 1 or 0.75 to 2 kWh kg-1 of algal cells disrupted. It has been suggested that cell disruption and subsequent oil extraction represent the largest energy input in the production of micro-algal biodiesel 6. If cell disruption processes could be combined with algal harvesting then a considerable reductions could be made in operation energy requirements7

1.             H. C. Greenwell, L. M. L. Laurens, R. J. Shields, R. W. Lovitt and K. J. Flynn, Journal of the Royal Society Interface 7 (46), 703-726 (2010).

2.             K. de Boer, N. Moheimani, M. Borowitzka and P. Bahri, J. Appl. Phycol. 24 (6), 1681-1698 (2012).

3.             Y. Chisti and M. Moo Young, Enzyme and Microbial Technology 8 (4), 194-204 (1986).

4.             T. M. Mata, A. A. Martins and N. S. Caetano, Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev. 14 (1), 217-232 (2010).

5.             GEA Process Engineering,  (2011).

6.             L. F. Razon and R. R. Tan, Appl. Energy 88 (10), 3507-3514 (2011).

7.             J. J. Milledge and S. Heaven, Environment and Natural Resources Research 1 (1), 17-24 (2011).

Thank you Dr John, that's helpful.

But how could cell disruption processes be combined to harvesting? What I am doing is harvesting and drying and then I want to do mechanical cell disruption for protein extraction. 

The following open access publication amy be of iterest - Milledge, J.J. & Heaven, S. Disc Stack Centrifugation Separation and Cell Disruption of Microalgae: A Technical Note. Environment and Natural Resources Research 1, 17-24 (2011).

On laboratory scale we suggest bead milling (see Anna´s answer). On large scale (> 100 liter) I would suggest a high pressure homogeniser (for wet biomass), or just air drying, depending of the desired product and the algae species.

Go for mechanical methods of cell disruption.

Cell disruption depends on many factors such as targetted end product, second the microalgae species, etc. Generally, mechanical methods are more effective such as high-pressure homogenization. for more details, read this chapter

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4615-2674-2_78

UNIQUE AND EFFECTIVE DISRUPTION METHOD OF ALGAE, BACTERIAL (Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and other) AND FUNGUS (Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Candida utilis and other) CELL WALLS TO ISOLATE BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS AND NUTRIENT ELEMENTS (Phycocyanin, Phycobilins, Zeaxanthin, Chlorophyll, Carotene, Lipids et al.).

the best cell disruption techniques for micro algae will be sonication.

@Suchrita Rakesh We see also best results using the 400W ultrasonicator UP400S in pulse cycles

Hi Ines,

Did you find the answer? Which method did you use for microalgae cell disruption?

I have an ultrasonic homogenizator, which mode and time ı have to use?

Did you know?

Thank you

Enzymatic hydrolysis pre-treatment is the best method for microalgae cell disruption.

You can opt ultrasonic technique. You can get idea from following article

Enhanced Lipid Recovery from Marine Chlorella Sp. by Ultrasonication with an Integrated Process Approach for Wet and Dry Biomass

My opinion - our method and equipment is the best.

Method - system - technology - equipment for mild disruption of various biocells for release of synthesized intracellular storage and isolation of desired (target) bioproducts and compounds.