Extraction of Antioxidant Compounds and Pigments from Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) Assisted by Pulsed Electric Fields and the Binary Mixture of Organic Solvents and Water

The application of pulsed electric fields (PEF) is an innovative extraction technology promoting cell membrane electroporation, thus allowing for an efficient recovery, from an energy point of view, of antioxidant compounds (chlorophylls, carotenoids, total phenolic compounds, etc.) from microalgae. Due to its selectivity and high extraction yield, the effects of PEF pre-treatment (3 kV/cm, 100 kJ/kg) combined with supplementary extraction at different times (5–180 min) and with different solvents (ethanol (EtOH)/H2O, 50:50, v/v; dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/H2O, 50:50, v/v) were evaluated in order to obtain the optimal conditions for the extraction of different antioxidant compounds and pigments. In addition, the results obtained were compared with those of a conventional treatment (without PEF pre-treatment but with constant shaking). After carrying out the different experiments, the best extraction conditions to recover the different compounds were obtained after applying PEF pre-treatment combined with the binary mixture EtOH/H2O, 50:50, v/v, for 60–120 min. PEF extraction was more efficient throughout the study, especially at short extraction times (5–15 min). In this sense, recovery of 55–60%, 85–90%, and 60–70% was obtained for chlorophylls, carotenoids, and total phenolic compounds, respectively, compared to the maximum total extracted amount. These results show that PEF improves the extraction yield of antioxidant bioactive compounds from microalgae and is a promising technology due to its profitability and environmental sustainability.