Abstract
A green, downstream process using common vegetable oils was used for the direct extraction of astaxanthin from Haematococcus. The process consists of a single integrated unit to extract astaxanthin with subsequent separation of the astaxanthin-containing oil extract. Without a cell harvest process step, the culture broth was directly mixed with the vegetable oils; the astaxanthin inside the cell was extracted into the vegetable oil phase by hydrophobic interactions, with recovery yields of 88% and above. The oil extracts were simply separated from the culture medium containing cell debris by gravity settling only.
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Acknowledgement
This research was supported by a grant (DG2-201) from the Carbon Dioxide Reduction & Sequestration Research Center, one of the 21st Century Frontier Programs funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Korean government.
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Kang, C.D., Sim, S.J. Direct extraction of astaxanthin from Haematococcus culture using vegetable oils. Biotechnol Lett 30, 441–444 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-007-9578-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-007-9578-0