5.5 Extraction of Fucoidans
103
Brown
algae
biomass
Defatting and
depigmentation
Drying
Acid
extraction
Filtration
Calcium
Chloride
precipitation
and filtration
Retentate
to waste
treatment
Fats and
pigments
Filtrate
Alginate
Centrifugation
Liquid
supernatant
Ethanol precipitation
Fucoidan
Filtrate
Fig. 5.2 Extraction of fucoidan
fucoidan is then separated by precipitation with alcohol followed by centrifugation
at 4816 × g for 15 min. The fucoidan obtained as the solid is then dried (Qin et al.
2018).
5.5.3 Microwave Extraction
Although the microwave extraction process allows for shorter extraction times and
in some cases has demonstrated better control over structure, this process is limited to small-scale laboratory extractions. There are reports of microwave-extracted
fucoidan having reduced anticancer activity compared to the conventional acid
extraction (Rodriguez-Jasso et al. 2011), while other reports reported fucoidans
with antioxidant property from Ascophyllum nodosum using the microwave-assisted
extraction method (Yuan and Macquarrie 2015). As the bioactive properties of
fucoidan vary from species to the other, it is not yet concluded that this incidence
of reduced anticancer property using microwave extraction applies to all species.
This process is nonetheless useful for high-value, low-quantity fucoidans with more
controllable bioactive properties such as their antioxidant property.