ABSTRACT
Stimulated by the current effort to substitute artificial food colorants with natural pigments, accentuated with the potential health benefits of the latter, production of pigments from microalgae has drawn considerable attention in recent years, especially in relation to carotenoids (e.g., astaxanthin, β-carotene, lutein), chlorophylls, and phycobiliproteins (phycocyanin, phycoerythrin). In spite of the perceived advantages, the large scale microalgal production of pigments is still limited. Only two microalgal carotenoids are produced industrially: β-carotene of Dunaliella salina and astaxanthin of Haematococcus pluvialis. Potential for commercial expansion is high, but more work is needed to make the process cost-competitive and sustainable. The entire process consists of cell cultivation, biomass harvesting, cell disruption, pigment extraction, purification, and storage; all these operations are being optimized. Selection of species with appropriate production time and yield, improving the design of the culture system, and optimizing the culture conditions to maximize biomass and pigment productions at low cost are being widely investigated. Making downstream processing more efficient and affordable is also being pursued. The scientific and technology advancements, however, have been mostly achieved at the laboratory stage, needing scaling up to the industrial level. Research findings indicate that microalgal pigment production can be commercially viable and advantageous.
