Technological processes for obtaining β-carotene and glycerol from Dunaliella sp. at “Las Cumaraguas” Saltworks

Abstract

Technological processes were developed for β-carotene and glycerol extraction from Dunaliella sp. at “Las Cumaraguas” Saltworks. Dunaliella sp. microalgae was characterize. It was established the technological flow of the process from laboratory data; energy balances and necessary energetic calculations were done, in order to select and size the required equipment for a pilot plant scale to produce one ton of β-carotene. Two possibilities were evaluated: extraction with organic solvents and extraction with supercritical fluids. The procedure showed that β-carotene and glycerol extractions are possible by means of the presented technological diagram, with 15, 4 % of biomass β -carotene yield and 5 % of biomass glycerol yield, for a conventional extraction and a yield of 70 % for β-carotene from pigments and 5 % of biomass glycerol yield, for extraction with supercritical fluid.

Keywords: extraction, β-carotene, glycerol, Dunaliella sp.