Studies On The Production Of Pure Phycocyanin By Airlift Alga Photobioreactor

There are two keys to obtain the production of pure phycocyanin (A_max / A₂₈₀ > 4 ) as gram scale, one is the supplying of algae as phycocyanin source, the other one is an efficient method to extract and purify the protein.A kind of airlift alga photobioreactor has been designed on the basis of the growth habit of algae. And several types of photobioreactors used for microalgae have been compared.Spirulina platensis was cultivated in the photobioreactor newly designed under low light intensities in the presence of abundant nutrients, and the content of phycobiliproteins enhanced, up to ca. 20% of the algal dry weight. The growth rate of Spirulina platensis in the photobioreactor can be up to 0.36 g DW / L ?d.A low cost chromatography media was synthesized. Phycobiliproteins extracted from algae cell by several frozen-thaw. The raw phycocyanin solution was chromatographically separated twice by the chromedia after pre-treatment. Pure C-phycocyanin (A₆₂₀ / A₂₈₀ =4.13 ) and partly pure allophycocyanin (A₆₅₀ / A₂₈₀=3.3 ) were obtained. The total yield of CPC was about 30%.