Marine Biomedical Research Institution, Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang 524023, China.
Guangdong (Zhanjiang) Provincial Laboratory of Southern Marine Science and Engineering, Zhanjiang 524023, China.
Molecules. 2023 Apr 20;28(8):3600. doi: 10.3390/molecules28083600.
Increasing the yield and purity of B-phycoerythrin (B-PE) can improve the economic state of microalgae industrial processing. One method of cost reduction involves the recovery of remaining B-PE from wastewater. In this study, we developed a chitosan (CS)-based flocculation technique for the efficient recovery of B-PE from a low concentration of phycobilin in wastewater. We investigated the effects of the molecular weight of chitosan, B-PE/CS mass ratio, and solution pH on the flocculation efficiency of CS and the effects of phosphate buffer concentration and pH on the recovery rate of B-PE. The maximum flocculation efficiency of CS, recovery rate, and purity index of B-PE were 97.19% ± 0.59%, 72.07% ± 1.37%, and 3.20 ± 0.025 (drug grade), respectively. The structural stability and activity of B-PE were maintained during the recovery process. Economic evaluation revealed that our CS-based flocculation method is more economical than the ammonium sulfate precipitation method is. Furthermore, the bridging effect and electrostatic interaction play important roles in B-PE/CS complex flocculation process. Hence, our study provides an efficient and economical method to recover high-purity B-PE from a low concentration of phycobilin in wastewater, which promoted the application of B-PE as a natural pigment protein in food and chemical applications.
提高藻红蛋白（B-PE）的产量和纯度可以改善微藻工业加工的经济状况。降低成本的一种方法是从废水中回收剩余的 B-PE。在本研究中，我们开发了一种壳聚糖（CS）基絮凝技术，用于从废水中低浓度的藻胆蛋白中高效回收 B-PE。我们研究了壳聚糖分子量、B-PE/CS 质量比和溶液 pH 对 CS 絮凝效率的影响，以及磷酸盐缓冲液浓度和 pH 对 B-PE 回收率的影响。CS 的最大絮凝效率、回收率和 B-PE 的纯度指数分别为 97.19%±0.59%、72.07%±1.37%和 3.20±0.025（药用级）。在回收过程中，B-PE 的结构稳定性和活性得以保持。经济评估表明，我们的 CS 基絮凝法比硫酸铵沉淀法更经济。此外，桥联效应和静电相互作用在 B-PE/CS 复合絮凝过程中发挥了重要作用。因此，本研究提供了一种从废水中低浓度藻胆蛋白中回收高纯度 B-PE 的高效、经济的方法，促进了 B-PE 作为天然色素蛋白在食品和化学应用中的应用。
