Recovery of microalgal biomass and metabolites from homogenized, swirl flash-dried microalgae

Production of intracellular metabolites from microalgae involves various processing steps. Since algal drying and cell disruption are integral processes of these operations, effects of novel swirl flash-drying technique and cell cracking by high-pressure liquid shear method were tested. Variations in biomass composition (focusing on the fatty acid and pigment composition) of two microalgal species, Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Nannochloropsis salina, were studied in order to investigate effects of novel drying technique, including whether recovery of bioactive compounds is more efficient on dried or wet biomass. Applying novel swirl flash-drying technique showed no significant adverse effect on the fatty acid composition, including heat sensitive eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), of tested microalgal species. Pigment and tocopherol composition of C. pyrenoidosa showed tendency to degrade after applying both cell cracking and drying treatment. Considering these data swirl flash-drying technique has a potential as a new drying technique for microalgae biomass.