Bead milling for the extraction of microalgal proteins
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Microalgae are considered the food/feed of the future for the high numbers of nutrients they contain: proteins, lipids, carbohydrates or vitamins. However, all of them are enclosed inside the cells, often protected by a tough cell wall. To be used in food and feed products, those nutrients must first be efficiently extracted from the microalgae cells. Several techniques exist to extract internal compounds from cells, some relying on chemicals with solvents or bases and others relying on mechanical disruption such as high-pressure homogenization or bead milling. Different factors must be considered when selecting a cell disruption technique such as its efficiency, its productivity, its operational costs, its scalability and its environmental impact.
The bead milling is a well-known technique used industrially in ceramic, pharmaceutical, paint, paper and cosmetic industries and is now also used in biotechnology to destroy cells. The system consists of an agitated chamber filled with ceramic beads with a size usually between 0,3 to 2 mm. The collisions between beads break the cells that are between them and allow the nutrients to come out of the cells to the extract liquid.
The disrupted cells are then separated from the liquid extract containing the nutrients by a solid/liquid separation technique. In ProFuture, proteins are the nutrient of interest. By selecting the optimal conditions, microalgal proteins could be recovered in the liquid phase after bead milling of the cells. Further purification steps could then increase the purity of the proteins and their functionality for food and feed applications.
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ProFuture
Ongoing | 2019-2023
- Main funding source
- Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- Spain