Developing a Sustainable and Scalable Defatting Protocol for Nannochloropsis oceanica: Isolating High-Quality Protein and Lipid Fractions

Developing a Sustainable and Scalable Defatting Protocol for Nannochloropsis oceanica: Isolating High-Quality Protein and Lipid Fractions

ACS Food Science & Technology

10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00148

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00148

Sergei Belyakov, Michael Voigtmann, Khin Yin Win, Carolyn Lee, Daryl Lee, Maria N. Antipina, Rong Ying Megan Teo, Leng Wei Khoo, Yoganathan Kanagasundaram, Coleen Toledo Busran, Aaron Thong, Nurhidayah Basri, Choy Eng Nge, Skye R. Thomas-Hall

alternative protein source, microalgae, Nannochloropsis Oceanica, defatting, isolate charaterization, properties

05 September 2024

Belyakov, S., Voigtmann, M., Win, K. Y., Lee, C., Lee, D., Antipina, M. N., Teo, R. Y. M., Khoo, L. W., Kanagasundaram, Y., Busran, C. T., Thong, A., Basri, N., Nge, C. E., & Thomas-Hall, S. R. (2024). Developing a Sustainable and Scalable Defatting Protocol for Nannochloropsis oceanica: Isolating High-Quality Protein and Lipid Fractions. ACS Food Science Technology, 4(9), 2058–2068. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00148

The current research focuses on developing and optimizing the defatting protocols that lead to sustainable and industrially scalable isolation of two main components of Nannochloropsis oceanica microalga, i.e., lipid content and defatted biomass comprising primarily of proteins and polysaccharides. We introduce a simplified extraction protocol that includes treating the microalga powder with ethyl alcohol heated slightly below boiling point (∼70 °C) for a short time (1 h). Multiple runs (EP1-EP10) were performed during the defatting process optimization, followed by extensive characterization of the obtained isolates. The comparison of the properties between the products of EP3-EP10 runs and the commercial defatted biomass sample shows that several isolates have characteristic properties that are equal to or exceed those of the commercial sample, which creates the opportunity for further development of the defatted biomass isolates of Nannochloropsis oceanica as a reliable alternative protein source.

Publisher Copyright

This research / project is supported by the Singapore Food Agency - Singapore Food Story Theme 21st Alternative Protein Seed Challenge Grant
Grant Reference no. : W20W2D0019

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Food Science & Technology, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see 10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00148.

https://oar.a-star.edu.sg/communities-collections/articles/21092

2692-1944
2692-1944

Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation