Abstract

A green cascade approach was used to recover phycocyanins, carotenoids and lipids from Galdiera phlegrea. Phycocyanin extraction was performed by high pressure homogenization and purified by ultrafiltration, whereas carotenoids were obtained by a pressurized liquid extraction and lipids by supercritical fluid extraction. The second step of this innovative, green, and cost-effective procedure is able to improve the recovery of zeaxanthin and β-carotene up to 40%, without affecting the quality of compounds and avoiding the use of organic solvents and the drying processes. The isolated carotenoids were active as antioxidants, as clearly shown by their protective activity on a cell-based model. The lipid yield was increased by 12% with respect to conventional methods.

Highlights

  • Microalgae are a continuous and reliable source of safe natural and high-value products, such as soluble proteins, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and pigments

  • Among all the innovative techniques, compressed fluid extractions are considered the most competitive ones because they may fulfill this criteria.[11]. In this context, pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) are the most widely employed as they could be based on the use of the same system; so they would represent process intensification

  • When compared with our previous results,[14] we found a lower recovery in lipid yield, but this could be due to a different extraction method used

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Summary

Introduction

Microalgae are a continuous and reliable source of safe natural and high-value products, such as soluble proteins, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and pigments. The bioenergy market has the lowest value This is due to the fact that biogas, bioethanol, and biodiesel have a selling price of 0.2 € m−3, 0.4 € kg−1, and 0.5 € L−1 respectively, a price that still exceeds their high downstream process costs (20.5 € m−3, 33.34 € kg−1, and 25.56 g € L−1, respectively).[10] an improvement in efficient, cost-effective, and green extraction techniques to produce high-quality compounds is needed. In this context, microalgae are an excellent source of molecules endowed with biological activity.

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