Application of an Ultrafine Shearing Method for the Extraction of C-Phycocyanin from Spirulina platensis

Cell disruption is an important step during the extraction of C-phycocyanin from Spirulina platensis. An ultrafine shearing method is introduced and combined with soaking and ultrasonication to disrupt the cell walls of S. platensis efficiently and economically. Five kinds of cell disruption method, including soaking, ultrasonication, freezing-thawing, soaking-ultrafine shearing and soaking-ultrafine shearing-ultrasonication were applied to break the cell walls of S. platensis. The effectiveness of cell breaking was evaluated based on the yield of the C-phycocyanin. The results show that the maximum C-phycocyanin yield was 9.02%, achieved by the soaking-ultrafine shearing-ultrasonication method, followed by soaking (8.43%), soaking-ultrafine shearing (8.89%), freezing and thawing (8.34%), and soaking-ultrasonication (8.62%). The soaking-ultrafine shearing-ultrasonication method is a novel technique for breaking the cell walls of S. platensis for the extraction of C-phycocyanin.