Abstract:The increase of natural products demand has motivated the replacement of artificial colorants for natural ones, because, according to some researches, the consumption of artificial pigments can cause health damage. Carotenoids are natural lipophilic pigments, which can present the colors yellow, orange or red. They are widely distributed in nature in algae, plants, crustaceans, fishes, birds and microorganisms. These colorants can be applied in several kinds of industries, not only with the purpose of coloring, but also to enrich foods and even as food supplement components, animal feed, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. In face of the carotenoid demand, it is estimated that the world market will move substantial amounts of money in the coming years. Considering this fact, in the Brazilian scenario, there can be an increase in imports, while the exports may remain as the last six years, with small changes, since in Brazil there are no investments on technology development for carotenoid production.Keywords: Natural colorants; carotenoids; carotenoids properties; carotenoids applications; carotenoids market. ResumoA crescente busca por produtos naturais tem motivado a substituição de corantes artificiais por naturais, pois segundo alguns estudos, o consumo de corantes artificiais pode causar danos à saúde. Os carotenoides são corantes naturais, lipofílicos, com coloração amarela, laranja ou vermelha e se encontram amplamente distribuídos na natureza em algas, plantas, crustáceos, peixes, aves e microorganismos. Esses pigmentos podem ser aplicados em diversas indústrias, não somente com a finalidade de colorir, como também para enriquecer alimentos e até mesmo compor suplementos alimentares, rações, fármacos e cosméticos. Diante do aumento da demanda por carotenoides, estima-se que o mercado mundial movimentará vultosas quantias nos próximos anos. Considerando este fato, no cenário nacional, pode haver a elevação das importações, enquanto as exportações poderão se manter como nos últimos seis anos, com valores irrisórios, uma vez que são escassos os investimentos no desenvolvimento tecnológico de produção de carotenoides no Brasil.

In Brazil, the production of ethanol from sugarcane produces large amounts of lignocellulosic residues (bagasse and straw), which have been driving research and development for the production of second generation ethanol. In the present work, a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain expressing the β-glucosidase gene from Humicola grisea was used for ethanol production from three different cellulosic sources by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. Initially, a enzymatic pre-hydrolysis step was done with a solid:liquid ratio of 1:4, and an enzymatic load of 25 filter paper activity (FPU).g -1 of cellulosic substrate. Using sugarcane bagasse pretreated cellulignin, crystalline cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose, 51.7 g L -1 , 41.7 g L -1 and 13.8 g L -1 of ethanol was obtained, respectively, at the end of 55 hrs of *Corresponding author fermentation. The highest ethanol productivity (0.94 g L -1 hrs -1 ) was achieved using sugarcane bagasse pretreated cellulignin. The use of a recombinant S. cerevisiae led to extremely low glucose concentrations when compared to other works reported in literature.

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