Single step aqueous two-phase extraction for downstream processing of C-phycocyanin from Spirulina platensis.

C-phycocyanin, a natural food colorant, is gaining
importance worldwide due to its several medical and pharmaceutical
applications. In the present study, aqueous two-phase
extraction was shown to be an attractive alternative for the
downstream processing of C-phycocyanin from Spirulina
platensis. By employing differential partitioning, Cphycocyanin
selectively partitioned to the polymer rich (top)
phase in concentrated form and contaminant proteins to the
salt rich (bottom) phase. This resulted in an increase in the
product purity (without losing much of the yield) in a single
step without the need of multiple processing steps. Effect of
process parameters such as molecular weight, tie line length,
phase volume ratio, concentration of phase components on the
partitioning behavior of C-phycocyanin was studied. The
results were explained based on relative free volume of the
phase systems. C-phycocyanin with a purity of 4.32 and yield
of about 79 % was obtained at the standardized conditions.