A comprehensive review on the application of novel disruption techniques for proteins release from microalgae

Abstract

There is an emergent demand for sustainable and alternative protein sources such as insects and microorganisms that meet the nutritional requirements. Microalgae possess valuable substances that could satisfy the population’s dietary requirement, medicinal purpose, and energy, aligned with effective processing techniques. Several disruption techniques were applied to microalgae species for protein recovery and other compounds. The thick microalgae cell wall makes it difficult to recover all the valuable biomolecules through several downstream processes. Thus, forethought key factors need to be considered when choosing a cell lysis method. The most challenging and crucial issue is selecting a technique that requires consideration of their ability to disrupt all cell types, easy to use, purity degree, reproducible, scalable, and energy efficient. This review aims to provide useful information specifically on mechanical and non-mechanical disruption methods, the status and potential in protein extraction capacities, and constraints. Therefore, further attention in the future on potential technologies, namely explosive decompression, microfluidization, pulsed arc technology, is required to supplement the discussed techniques. This article summarizes recent advances in cell disruption methods and demonstrates insights on new directions of the techniques and future developments.

Keywords:

• Biomolecules
• cell wall
• disruption techniques
• microalgae
• protein

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31871719) and National Key R&D Program of China (grant no.2019YFC1606204).