LAUSR

Allophycocyanin (A-PC) and carotenoids are high value low volume compounds present in Arthrospira platensis which are usually ignored and left un-extracted (50- 80%) in the spent biomass after extraction of C-Phycocyanin. In the present work, process parameters such as incubation time, solid-liquid (S/L) ratio and surfactant/enzyme concentration was standardized for surfactant and enzyme-assisted extraction of A-PC. Enzyme-assisted method resulted in very high A-PC purity (1.19) with a yield of 32.27 mg/g dry biomass (db). To improve the yield, enzyme-assisted method was combined with ultrasonication which resulted in the highest yield of 44.08 mg/g (db) with a purity of 1.09 (the highest reported till date during primary extraction). The spent biomass after Low-Humidity (LH) drying was used for the extraction of carotenoids and the best conditions were 80% concentration of ethanol, 1:4 S/L ratio, pH 7, 40 oC temperature and 1 h extraction time. LH drying was observed to be a possible alternative to freeze drying for drying of spent biomass.