MICROWAVE PRETREATMENT-ASSISTED ETHANOL EXTRACTION OF CHLOROPHYLLS FROM SPIRULINA PLATENSIS

Microwave pretreatment-assisted ethanol extraction (MPAEE) was used to extract chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b from Spirulina platensis. The effects of microwave-pretreated process and ethanol extraction process were investigated by single-factor experiments and response surface analysis experiments. The results showed that the optimum process parameters for MPAEE were: acetone/water (1:1, V/V) as the ruptured walls co-solvent (RWC), the volume of the RWC of 10 mL, microwave irradiation time of 60 s, microwave irradiation power of 560 W, extraction time of 52.8 min, extraction temperature of 55.1C, and ratio of solvent to material of 10.8 mL/g. The optimized chlorophylls extraction yield was 1.27%, matching the theoretical extraction yield. The comparison experimental results indicated that the yield of chlorophylls by MPAEE was higher than that obtained from conventional solvent extraction. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Chlorophylls and their derivatives were natural, safe, green pigments, which met the requirement of people for safe food additives. In the present study, microwave was first used to assist the extraction of chlorophylls from Spirulina platensis (SP), and the response surface methodology was applied to optimize the extraction process. The experimental results showed that the extraction efficiency was accelerated by Microwave pretreatment-assisted ethanol extraction of chlorophylls from SP. The process described here would raise the additional value of SP, and supplied guidance of industrial applications of extraction of chlorophylls.