Extraction of astaxanthin from microalga Haematococcus pluvialis in red phase by using Generally Recognized As Safe solvents and accelerated extraction

Publication date: Available online 9 July 2018Source: Journal of BiotechnologyAuthor(s): Antonio Molino, Juri Rimauro, Patrizia Casella, Antonietta Cerbone, Vincenzo Larocca, Simeone Chianese, Despina Karatza, Sanjeet Mehariya, Angelo Ferraro, Evangelos Hristoforou, Dino MusmarraAbstractSolvent Extraction was tested to extract astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis in red phase (HPR), by investigating effects of solvents, extraction pressure and temperature. Astaxanthin isomers were identified and quantified in the extract. The performances of acetone and ethanol, Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) solvents, were explored. Negligible effect of pressure was found, while with increasing extraction temperature astaxanthin recovery increased till a maximum value, beyond which thermal degradation seemed to be greater than the positive effect of temperature on extraction. Furthermore, to maximize the extraction yield of astaxanthin, mechanical pre-treatment of HPR biomass was carried out and several extraction runs were consecutively performed. Experimental results showed that after the mechanical pre-treatment the astaxanthin recovery strongly increased while a single extraction run of 20 minutes was sufficient to extract more than 99% of total astaxanthin extracted. After pre-treatment, maximum recovery of about 87% was found for acetone (pressure = 100 bar; temperature = 40 °C; total time = 60 minutes).

Source: Journal of Biotechnology - July 10, 2018 Category: Biotechnology Source Type: research