Stepwise extraction of high-value chemicals from Arthrospira (Spirulina) and an economic feasibility study
Journal article
Authors/Editors
Strategic Research Themes
No matching items found.
Publication Details
Author list: Chaiklahan R., Chirasuwan N., Loha V., Tia S., Bunnag B.
Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
Publication year: 2018
Volume number: 20
ISSN: 2215-017X
eISSN: 2215-017X
Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)
Abstract
Arthrospira (Spirulina) consists of diverse high-value chemicals, such as phycocyanin, lipids/total fatty acids (TFA), and polysaccharides, which have been used for food, cosmetic and pharmacological applications. This study compared various stepwise extraction processes for these high-value chemicals. Considering the yield and properties of extracts, the most suitable extraction order was phycocyanin, lipid/TFA and polysaccharides. The yield of the main product (food-grade phycocyanin) was 8.66% of the biomass dry weight, whereas the yields of the subsequent lipid/TFA and polysaccharide coproducts were 3.55% and 0.72%, respectively. The economic analysis showed that producing phycocyanin alone was economically feasible, but producing coproducts (lipid/TFA and polysaccharides) was not. The production cost of phycocyanin was US$ 249.70 kg−1, which is an encouraging figure for large-scale production. Moreover, the phycocyanin content of Arthrospira materials utilized for extraction should not be lower than 15% of dry weight to ensure positive the net present value (NPV) of investment. © 2018
Keywords
Arthrospira (Spirulina), Lipid/TFA
Contact Information