332
J. Jeevanandam et al.
14.2.7 Other Industrial Applications
The pigments present in microalgae are the high valuable components that can be
used for enormous applications. In food sectors, these pigments are beneficial as
organic coloring agent (Dufossé 2018), paints as natural colors (Danaee et al. 2018),
solar energy collectors to trap more sun energy (Dufossé 2016) and as fluorescent
dyes in bioimaging of diseases (Della Rosa et al. 2018). In addition, the extracts of
microalgae possess biologically valuable compounds that are beneficial as high-value
co-products (Chew et al. 2017), stable biochemical isotope (Allen et al. 2017), biofertilizer (Garcia-Gonzalez and Sommerfeld 2016), bio-mitigation of carbon dioxide
emission (Zhou et al. 2017), co-processing of wastewater (Puyol et al. 2017), and in
eliminating organic pollutants (Matamoros et al. 2015). Even though a wide variety of
microalgal highly valuable compounds are available and are under extensive research,
each component possesses at least a drawback which hinders their transformation
process from lab to large-scale production (Rizwan et al. 2018). Microalgal pigments
are currently under extensive research as they are easily extracted from microalgae
and requires less processing stages to fabricate the final product. The bioeconomy
associated with microalgae are mostly depending on these pigments and each pigment
are significantly helpful in various applications which are discussed in consecutive
sections.
14.3 Economically Important Microalgal Pigments
14.3.1 General Characteristics
Microalgae is one of the photosynthesizing organisms that produce various pigments,
namely, chlorophyll, carotenoids, astaxanthins, phycobiliproteins, and other lipids.
These phycopigments are in the colors of green, yellow, brown, red, and are preferred
over synthetic colors, due to their non-carcinogenicity and non-toxicity (Sekar and
Chandramohan 2008). These pigments are the important source of natural colors
compared to synthetic colorants.
Microalgal pigments such as chlorophyll, carotenoids, phycobiliproteins, astaxanthins, and other pigments are extensively used in different industries. For example,
carotenoids obtained from Dunaliella, phycobiliproteins from Spirulina, red algae,
cyanobacteria, and astaxanthin from Haematococcus are commonly used in food,
pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, aquaculture, and cosmetic industry. Additionally,
these pigments are utilized in medical research as receptors that are effective as antibodies (Santiago-Santos et al. 2004; Begum et al. 2015). Apart from performing the
primary role in pigmentation-based metabolism and photosynthesis in algae, these
pigments also display numerous advantageous anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, anti-carcinogenic, anti-obesity, anti-angiogenic and neuroprotective activity
J. Jeevanandam et al.
14.2.7 Other Industrial Applications
The pigments present in microalgae are the high valuable components that can be
used for enormous applications. In food sectors, these pigments are beneficial as
organic coloring agent (Dufossé 2018), paints as natural colors (Danaee et al. 2018),
solar energy collectors to trap more sun energy (Dufossé 2016) and as fluorescent
dyes in bioimaging of diseases (Della Rosa et al. 2018). In addition, the extracts of
microalgae possess biologically valuable compounds that are beneficial as high-value
co-products (Chew et al. 2017), stable biochemical isotope (Allen et al. 2017), biofertilizer (Garcia-Gonzalez and Sommerfeld 2016), bio-mitigation of carbon dioxide
emission (Zhou et al. 2017), co-processing of wastewater (Puyol et al. 2017), and in
eliminating organic pollutants (Matamoros et al. 2015). Even though a wide variety of
microalgal highly valuable compounds are available and are under extensive research,
each component possesses at least a drawback which hinders their transformation
process from lab to large-scale production (Rizwan et al. 2018). Microalgal pigments
are currently under extensive research as they are easily extracted from microalgae
and requires less processing stages to fabricate the final product. The bioeconomy
associated with microalgae are mostly depending on these pigments and each pigment
are significantly helpful in various applications which are discussed in consecutive
sections.
14.3 Economically Important Microalgal Pigments
14.3.1 General Characteristics
Microalgae is one of the photosynthesizing organisms that produce various pigments,
namely, chlorophyll, carotenoids, astaxanthins, phycobiliproteins, and other lipids.
These phycopigments are in the colors of green, yellow, brown, red, and are preferred
over synthetic colors, due to their non-carcinogenicity and non-toxicity (Sekar and
Chandramohan 2008). These pigments are the important source of natural colors
compared to synthetic colorants.
Microalgal pigments such as chlorophyll, carotenoids, phycobiliproteins, astaxanthins, and other pigments are extensively used in different industries. For example,
carotenoids obtained from Dunaliella, phycobiliproteins from Spirulina, red algae,
cyanobacteria, and astaxanthin from Haematococcus are commonly used in food,
pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, aquaculture, and cosmetic industry. Additionally,
these pigments are utilized in medical research as receptors that are effective as antibodies (Santiago-Santos et al. 2004; Begum et al. 2015). Apart from performing the
primary role in pigmentation-based metabolism and photosynthesis in algae, these
pigments also display numerous advantageous anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, anti-carcinogenic, anti-obesity, anti-angiogenic and neuroprotective activity