Novel astaxanthin extraction from Haematococcus pluvialis using cell permeabilising ionic liquids

Abstract

ARTICLE This journal isHaematococcus pluvialis (H. pluvialis) is a natural source of the food colorant astaxanthin. It is characterised by a thick resistant cell wall composed of a non-hydrolysable biopolymer, sporopollenin. High energy-consuming mechanical disruption is required to improve the extractability of astaxanthin. Opposed to that, this study uses a novel technology with ionic liquids (ILs) to permeabilise the Haematococcal cyst cell under mild conditions of temperature and improve the extraction of astaxanthin. The study shows that ≥70% astaxanthin can be extracted from intact H. pluvialis cells using 1-ethyl-3methylimidazolium di-butylphosphate (EMIM DBP) at a concentration of 40% w/w in a water solution and temperature of 45°C. Ionic liquids serve as a promising pre-treatment step for extraction of pigments from intact H. pluvialis cells. The results obtained opens new avenues for processing of algal biomass.

Selective and mild fractionation of microalgal proteins and pigments using aqueous two‐phase systems

“…Although microalgal cells contain several valuable biomolecules, the currently applied separation processes valorize only one specific product (e.g. astaxanthin, phycobiliproteins) . The development of efficient, mild and scalable methods/processes, capable of fractionating different microalgal biomolecules, is of particular importance .…”

The efficiency and comparison of novel techniques for cell wall disruption in astaxanthin extraction from Haematococcus pluvialis

“…Results regarding microscopy were in line with the findings of Desai et al . (). As compared to mature red‐coloured cysts (Fig.…”

“…In a two-step pretreatment (HCl and USassisted acetone extraction), showed the best astaxanthin extraction yield (Dong et al, 2014). ILs are solely composed of loosely hold cations and anions characterised by negligible vapour pressure, low melting temperatures, and exceptional thermal and chemical stability, has been widely utilised for catalysis for biodiesel synthesis, removal of metal ions and biological reaction media (Desai et al, 2016). In addition, with the high capacity of dissolving cellulose, ILs appeared to be a novel cell disruption technique for lipid and protein recovery from C. vulgaris (Choi et al, 2014).…”

Ionic liquid as an effective solvent for cell wall deconstructing through astaxanthin extraction from Haematococcus pluvialis

“…Although, the lipid recovery from C. vulgaris using ILs has been studied, few researchers have investigated the capability of ILs for disrupting the most resistant cell wall of H. pluvialis and enhancing the astaxanthin extraction, excepted the studies conducted by Desai et al . (), who found that cell wall of H. pluvialis was efficient disruption by 1‐Ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium dibutylphosphate at mild temperature, and more than 70% astaxanthin was extracted. While Praveenkumar et al .…”

“…Orr et al (2016) have demonstrated that the complete hydrolysis of wet C. vulgaris cells using ILs for lipid recovery at room temperature with a great recyclability process. Although, the lipid recovery from C. vulgaris using ILs has been studied, few researchers have investigated the capability of ILs for disrupting the most resistant cell wall of H. pluvialis and enhancing the astaxanthin extraction, excepted the studies conducted by Desai et al (2016), who found that cell wall of H. pluvialis was efficient disruption by 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dibutylphosphate at mild temperature, and more than 70% astaxanthin was extracted. While Praveenkumar et al (2015) proposed a novel, energyefficient biological pre-treatment combining germination (12-18 h) of H. pluvialis with IL-based astaxanthin extraction.…”