Produção de biocompostos microalgais em diferentes condições de cultivo

Abstract

There is a worldwide consensus in the food industry that aims to replace synthetic ingredients with natural ingredients for health promotion. At the same time, the industrial relevance of microalgae as sources of an extensive spectrum of bioproducts and as promising raw materials for the production of natural additives is constantly growing. The interest is fundamentally justified in the chemical composition of biomass, such as carotenoids and limonene, due to their bioactive activities with beneficial effects on health. Since these metabolites have an excellent perspective for industrial growth and development, production with greater potential is sought through optimized cultivation systems and conditions, with the subsequent challenge being the development of bioprocesses that link scientific results to commercial needs. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the profile of carotenoids produced by the microalgae Desertifilum spp. in phototrophic, heterotrophic and mixotrophic cultivation, and to investigate the formation of the volatile compound limonene, derived from the microalgae Desertifilum spp., Chlorella sorokiniana, Chlorella vulgaris, Scenedesmus bijuga, Scenedesmus obliquus and Spirulina sp., and its aroma properties. Through the study, it was found that the microalgae Desertifilum spp. exhibits a strong potential for the production of carotenoids, with the majority being the forms of all-trans-β- carotene, all-trans-zeaxanthin and all-trans-equinenone, respectively. In this sense, the mixotrophic cultivation showed better quantitative results when compared to the photoautotrophic and heterotrophic cultivation. At the same time, the presence of the bioactive compound limonene was identified in the volatile fraction of the six microalgae, contributing positively to the citrus and mint aroma, with the microalgae Scenedesmus bijuga being the one with the greatest quantitative potential. Thus, the study made it possible to demonstrate that microalgae are sources of non-volatile (carotenoids) and volatile (limonene) bioproducts, compounds that, according to the literature, have important bioactive and/or nutraceutical properties, whose economic importance is associated with a wide range applications in the food and biomedical industries. Additionally, the book chapter “Recent advances in the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of algal bioactive compounds” (Chapter 4) will be published as complementary research to this work.