Abstract
Within the European legislative framework, microalgae market for human consumption is dominated by products originating from “Spirulina” and “Chlorella” whole biomass. In this context, Chlorella is marketed for its health-promoting functional lipids, among other properties. Still, the quality of the lipids contained in Chlorella biomass can vary significantly (Barouh et al., 2024). Particularly, the level of free fatty acids (FFA) in the product can be detrimental to flavour and nutritional properties. Indeed, FFA can be naturally released from glycerolipids by lipases present in microalgae cells (Balduyck et al. 2017, 2016). To circumvent lipolysis, microalgae are mostly sold under dried form, but wet downstream processing has environmental and economical interests. Therefore, challenges need to be overcome in terms of understanding and determining the optimal conditions to control of fatty acid release.