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The yeast Phaffia rhodozyma is known for producing carotenogenic pigments, commonly used in aquaculture feed formulation as well as in cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food industries. Despite the high production of carotenoids from microorganisms by biotechnology, their use has limitation due to the cell wall resistance, which constitutes a barrier to the bioavailability of carotenoids. Therefore, there is a need to improve carotenoids recovering technique from microorganisms for the application of food industries. This study aimed to compare mechanical, chemical, and enzymatic techniques of cell disruption for extracting carotenoids produced by P. rhodozyma NRRL Y-17268. Among the techniques studied, the highest specific concentration of carotenoids (190.35 µg/g) resulted from the combined techniques of frozen biomass maceration using diatomaceous earth and enzymatic lysis at pH of the reaction medium of 4.5 at 55 o C, with initial activity of β-1,3 glucanase of 0.6 U/mL for 30 min.

This paper presents the evaluation of some important parameters for the purification of phycocyanin using ion exchange chromatography. The influences of pH and temperature on the equilibrium partition coefficient were investigated to establish the best conditions for phycocyanin adsorption. The equilibrium isotherm for the phycocyanin-resin system was also determined. The separation of phycocyanin using the Q-Sepharose ion exchange resin was evaluated in terms of the pH and elution volume that improved the increase in purity and recovery. The highest partition coefficients were obtained in the pH range from 7.5 to 8.0 at 25 degrees C. Under these conditions the equilibrium isotherm for phycocyanin adsorption was well described by the Langmuir model, attaining a Q (m) of 22.7 mg/mL and K (d) of 3.1 x 10(-2) mg/mL. The best conditions for phycocyanin purification using the ion exchange column were at pH 7.5 with an elution volume of 36 mL, obtaining 77.3% recovery and a 3.4-fold increase in purity.

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