Green Astaxanthin Extraction: Microwave and Ultrasound Pretreatment

In this study, ultrasonic and microwave extraction were performed to recover astaxanthin from F. merguiensis shrimp and P. maeoticus Gammarus samples, using three solvents, including organic solvent, vegetable oil, and ionic microemulsion. Microemulsions were evaluated in terms of density, conductivity, and particle size. The microemulsion exhibited a density of 0.9715 g/cm3, a conductivity of 312 µSiemens, and an average particle size of 15.8 nm. The results demonstrated that in both samples, the ionic microemulsion solvent showed superior performance in astaxanthin extraction and F. merguiensis shrimp produced more total carotenoid compared to the other sample, In both methods, the recovery efficiency of astaxanthin increased with an increasing amount of solvent and with an increase in power and extraction time, it increased at first, but then a slight decrease was observed. Ultrasonic extraction preserved the structure and antioxidant properties of astaxanthin better, but the microwave method showed a higher extraction efficiency.