Effects of spray-drying and storage on astaxanthin content of Haematococcus pluvialis biomass

Abstract The main objective of this study was to eval-uate the stability of astaxanthin after drying and storage at different conditions during a 9-week period. Recovery of astaxanthin was evaluated by extracting pigments from the dried powders and analysing extracts by HPLC. The powders obtained were stored under different conditions of temperature and oxygen level and the effects on the deg-radation of astaxanthin were examined. Under the experi-mental conditions conducted in this study, the drying temperature that yielded the highest content of astaxanthin was 220C, as the inlet, and 120C, as the outlet temper-ature of the drying chamber. The best results were obtained for biomass dried at 180/110C and stored at-21C under nitrogen, with astaxanthin degradation lower than 10% after 9 weeks of storage. A reasonable preservation of as-taxanthin can be achieved by conditions 180/80C,-21C nitrogen, 180/110C, 21C nitrogen, and 220/80C, 21C vacuum: the ratio of astaxanthin degradation is equal or inferior to 40%. In order to prevent astaxanthin degradation of Haematococcus pluvialis biomass, it is recommended the storage of the spray dried carotenized cells (180/1108C) under nitrogen and-21C