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On the relative efficiency of two‐ vs. one‐stage production of astaxanthin by the green alga Haematococcus pluvialis
Author(s) -
Aflalo Claude,
Meshulam Yuval,
Zarka Aliza,
Boussiba Sammy
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.21391
Subject(s) - astaxanthin , haematococcus pluvialis , pluvialis , chemistry , food science , production (economics) , botany , biology , carotenoid , macroeconomics , economics
Haematococcus pluvialis under stress conditions overproduces the valuable red ketocarotenoid astaxanthin. Two proposed strategies for commercial production are under current analysis. One separates in time the production of biomass (optimal growth, green stage) and pigment (permanent stress, red stage), while the other uses an approach based on continuous culture under limiting stress at steady state. The productivities, efficiencies and yields for the pigment accumulation in each case have been compared and analyzed in terms of the algal basic physiology. The two‐stage system indoors yields a richer astaxanthin product (4% of dry biomass) with a final astaxanthin productivity of 11.5 mg L −1 day −1 , is more readily upscalable and amenable to outdoors production. Furthermore, each stage can be optimized for green biomass growth and red pigment accumulation by adjusting independently the respective ratio of effective irradiance to cell density. We conclude that the two‐stage system performs better (by a factor of 2.5–5) than the one‐stage system, and the former is best fit in an efficient mass production setup. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2007; 98: 300–305. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.