Impact of incubation conditions on protein and C-Phycocyanin recovery from Arthrospira platensis post- pulsed electric field treatment

Pulsed electric field (PEF) was conducted for the extraction of proteins/C-Phycocyanins from Arthrospira platensis.
The cyanobacterial suspension was treated with 1 μs long pulses at an electric field strength of 40 kV·cm−1 and a treatment energy of 114 kJ·kgsus−1 and 56 kJ·kgsus−1. For benchmarking, additional biomass was processed by high pressure homogenization. Homogeneity of the suspension prior to PEF-treatment influenced the protein/C-phycocyanin extraction efficiency. Stability of C-Phycocyanin during post-PEF incubation time was affected by incubation temperature and pH of the external medium. Biomass concentration severely affect proteins/C-Phycocyanins extraction yield via PEF-treatment. The optimum conditions for extraction of proteins/ C-Phycocyanin was obtained at 23 °C while incubating in pH 8-buffer. The energy demand for PEF-Treatment amounts to 0.56 MJ·kgdw−1 when processing biomass at 100 gdw·kgsus−1. PEF treatment enhances the protein/CPhycocyanin extraction yield, thus, it can be suggested as preferential downstream processing method for the production of C-Phycocyanin from A. platensis biomass.