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Abstract
Spirulina platensis has a high nutritional value and is applied in many fields, especially in the food industry. However, the dispersion of dried spirulina in water is unstable, they are prone to sedimentation in a short time. There are many factors affecting the sedimentation process of spirulina. In this study, the ratio of spirulina, pH, sucrose and kappa carrageenan (k-car) significantly affected the sedimentation of dried spirulina in water. Spirulina settled rapidly in the first 20 minutes, then the rate decreased significantly after 50 minutes of sedimentation. When sucrose or k-car was added at a ratio of 15% or 0.05% or more, the stability of spirulina in solution was better, the sedimentation rate decreased to below 18% after 90 minutes of sedimentation. In an environment of pH 8.5, spirulina settled earliest and slowest at pH 4.6. The research results showed that spirulina has better dispersion ability and is more stable in acidic or neutral environment in the presence of sucrose or k-car at a sufficiently large usage rate.
Keywords: Spirulina platensis, sucrose, kappa carrageenan, pH