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Discovering microalgae with high lipid productivity are among the key milestones for achieving sustainable biodiesel production. Current methods of lipid quantification are time intensive and costly. A rapid colorimetric method based on sulfo-phospho-vanillin (SPV) reaction was developed for the quantification of microbial lipids to facilitate screening for lipid producing microalgae. This method was successfully tested on marine thraustochytrid strains and vegetable oils. The colorimetric method results correlated well with gravimetric method estimates. The new method was less time consuming than gravimetric analysis and is quantitative for lipid determination, even in the presence of carbohydrates, proteins and glycerol.