Marine macroalgae are an emerging sustainable source
of protein;
however, protein extraction from macroalgae is challenging. In this
work we report a novel, screw-press-based device for continuous high-voltage
pulsed-electric-field (PEF) processing of fresh biomass to extract
water-soluble protein from the red seaweed Gracilaria sp. The water extracts from the PEF-treated biomass showed higher
protein yield (37.82 ± 7.96 to 47.56 ± 10.54 mg/g initial
dry weight (DW) of biomass, depending on PEF conditions) compared
to extracts without PEF (33.82 ± 6.01 mg/g initial DW of biomass).
PEF followed by aqueous extraction removed 69.11% of the ash from
the Gracilaria sp. biomass. The in vitro digestibility of the proteins in the water-soluble
extract from the PEF process was 70% compared to that of casein, but
it was only 25% for the juice protein extracted with a screw press
alone. The energy consumption for PEF was 2.94 ± 0.91 kJ/(kg
fresh weight (FW)) – 4.06 ± 0.48 kJ/kgFW, depending on
the applied voltage. This study is the first report of processing Gracilaria sp. biomass using a continuous PEF system
and successfully demonstrates the protein extraction with relatively
lower energy inputs.
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