Hawaii Patent of the Month – July 2021
There is a growing consumer desire for sustainable and eco friendly products. One such demand includes affordable, natural, safe, and efficacious products that can help improve health. Kuehnle AgroSystems, Inc. is a Hawaii biotechnology company that develops specialty chemicals and raw materials with the purpose of improving life. They focus on using plant-based ingredients for aqua feeds, food, and personal care products. Just recently, they have developed a novel method of producing microbial biomass and bioproducts for use in their sustainable products.
Production of microbial biomass or bioproducts offer an alternative source for chemicals like carotenoids which can be used as antioxidants. Having a reliable sustainable source has many benefits over laboratory-based synthesis. For instance, naturally formed carotenoids are esterified, which makes them more stable and potent. The chemically synthesized form is much more sensitive to oxidation.
In order to successfully synthesize this microbial biomass, Kuehnle AgroSystems developed a method that goes as follow:
- Provide a culture medium with organic acid
- Provide a microalgal cell of interest – should be a facultative heterotroph
- The microalgal cell is cultured in the culture medium, in the dark, to produce a microalgal culture
- Isolate the microalgal cell from the culture prior to cell differentiation
- Purify the product of interest from the microalgal culture.
Specific components depend on the end-product of interest. Ultimately, this system works for the production of biomass, pigments, terpenes, biogas, and more. With this method in place, naturally formed compounds are much more readily available than ever before.
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