15D-23 |
Isolation of pigments from shrimp wastes by reverse osmosis and enzymatic membrane bioreactor |
I. GUERRERO LEGARRETA1, R. E. Armenta1, and M. N. de Pinho2. (1) Department of Biotechnology, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Iztapalapa Campus, Av. Michoacan y Purisima s/n, Mexico D.F., 09340, Mexico, (2) Instituto Superior Tecnico, Universidade de Tecnologia de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, Lisboa, Portugal Carotenoids are the most widespread group of naturally occurring pigments in nature. Astaxanthin, a red-orange pigment found in crustacean and other organisms gives rise to the red flesh of salmon and sea trout. Its major use is in salmonid diets to attain the desired flesh color. Another relevant application of this carotenoid is in the cosmetic industry. In Mexico, along the Pacific and Gulf seashores, large amounts of polluting shrimp wastes are produced. They can be potentially used to obtain astaxanthin. The goal of the present study was to investigate the optimum conditions to obtain astaxanthin from shrimp wastes using a reverse osmosis process adapted to an enzymatic membrane bioreactor Caroproteins were separated from the liquor of lactic fermented shrimp wastes. After protein recuperation using 20 proteolytic units of a commerical protease and a 10 kDa molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) membrane, the permeate was treated by reverse osmosis at 10 bars. The response variable was total xantophylls in the permeate and retentate, analyzed every hour during a total study time of 7 hours. Use of a 750 Da polysulphone membrane at 10 bars gave the highest pigment amount, obtaining a 5-fold concentration and 100% recovery as compared to the original liquor. When compared to a preliminar hydrolysis, studied in a model system, this represented 90% of the pigment. Astaxanthin from crustacean wastes can be isolated and purified by an enzymatic treatment followed by ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. The process can be applied to obtain highly valuable pigments from a polluting material such as shrimp wastes.
Session 15D, Food Engineering: Processing Technologies
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