Research Projects

Chlorophyll, a bioactive compound from natural resources, is a valuable natural edible pigment that can reduce the negative effects of synthetic dyes in food, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical products. It has been approved as a food additive in European countries, the UsA, and India. The global market for chlorophyll is around UsD 359 million, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.5%. Currently, chlorophyll is produced from spinach and alfalfa with less than 1% chlorophyll content. However, microalgae have a higher chlorophyll content of around 6%, making them an industrially important natural edible pigment for food colorants. Researchers have isolated three microalgal strains with high chlorophyll content from the Northeastern Region of India and have developed a simple one-step chlorophyll extraction process with 90% efficiency. The study aims to investigate chlorophyll production of ~1 kg per week by synchronizing extracellular cues with microalgal biomass production of 20 kg per week at a pilot scale. The quality of extracted chlorophyll will be tested as edible pigments for industrial use. Techno-economic-profitability analysis will be performed using experimental data from the pilot scale study to investigate the integrated chlorophyll production process for commercial production.