There are many natural active polysaccharides in marine organisms, which can be divided into three categories according to their sources: seaweed polysaccharides, marine animal polysaccharides and marine microbial polysaccharides. Many of them have significant antitumor activity, some of them have the value of industrial production, and the others are expected to be developed into new drugs. With the rapid development of modern science and technology and medicine, people have achieved extraction of polysaccharides from marine organisms, which has realized industrialization. However, the traditional technology and equipment can not meet the requirements of extraction, separation, purification and concentration of polysaccharides from marine organisms, and the yield can not be improved, let alone ensure the activity of effective components. Therefore, Guo Chu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd., has effectively utilized various membrane separation technologies of the company, successfully developed a variety of new technologies for the extraction of marine biological polysaccharides, and can provide a complete set of process solutions.
 
Application of Membrane Technology in the Extraction Process of Chondroitin Sulfate by Guo Chu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd.
 
 
Chondroitin sulfate is a kind of mucopolysaccharide, which can be used to regulate the concentration of anions in human body, and combine with some substances to regulate the immunity of the body. It can effectively prevent the infection of bacteria and viruses, and has the functions of anticoagulant, inhibition of thrombosis, and regulation of lipid metabolism.
 
Traditionally, chondroitin sulfate was purified by way of ‘Water Extraction and Alcohol Precipitation’ based on the property that cartilage sulfate was insoluble in ethanol solution. In the production process of chondroitin sulfate, 60% ethanol solution produced after alcohol precipitation was recovered by ethanol recovery tower, and the mother liquor containing animal chondroprotein was produced.
 
Since animal cartilage hydrolysate contains a lot of protein and other macromolecular impurities, the precipitation effect of alcohol precipitant will be reduced when the feed liquid is chemically extracted, as during the precipitation of chondroitin sulfate by the precipitant, impurities such as animal proteins and polypeptides will also be precipitated, the useful components in hydrolysate can not be fully precipitated. Furthermore, due to the impurities such as proteins in the precipitated mixture, the re-separation process becomes very difficult, which increases the difficulty and cost of post-process.
 
Based on years of experience in membrane application, Guo Chu Technology has put forward solutions:
 
For protein and other macromolecular impurities, ultrafiltration system is used to remove macromolecular protein impurities, and then the feed liquid is pre-concentrated by nanofiltration system to reduce the alcohol consumption and save the cost.
 
At the same time, for the mother liquid after alcohol recovery, nanofiltration system was used to concentrate and recover animal protein, which could avoid the damage of animal protein by traditional evaporation method through high-temperature evaporation concentrator, so that the animal protein could be used as animal feed, and the discharged wastewater could meet the environmental protection standard.
 

 

Application of Membrane Technology in the Extraction Process of Sea Cucumber Polysaccharide by Guo Chu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd.
 
 
Sea cucumber polysaccharide is an important component in the body wall of sea cucumber, and its content accounts for more than 6% of the total organic matter in dry sea-cucumber. There are two kinds of polysaccharides in the body wall of sea cucumber. The first is sea cucumber glycosaminoglycan or mucopolysaccharide, which is a branched heteropolysaccharide composed of D-N-acetylgalactosamine, D-glucuronic acid and L-fucose, with a relative molecular weight of 40000-50000; The other is sea cucumber fucoidan, which is a straight-chain homogeneous polysaccharide composed of L-fucose, with a relative molecular weight of 80000-100000. Although the composition of glycosyl groups of these two polysaccharides is different, they both have certain hydroxyl groups in their saccharic chains which are sulfated, and the content of sulfate groups in both polysaccharides is about 32%. GCM-C microfiltration device adopted by Guo Chu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd., can effectively remove macromolecular colloid, suspended solids and other impurities in sea cucumber polysaccharide, and obtain clear and transparent polysaccharide solution. Then, sea cucumber polysaccharide can be effectively concentrated through GCM-C nanofiltration device. This process has been applied in a mature way.
 

 
Application of Membrane Technology in the Extraction Process of Seaweed Polysaccharide by Guo Chu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd.
 
There are two kinds of bioactive substances in seaweed: One is the substance with low molecular weight, which can directly or indirectly affect the metabolism of the body after absorption, mainly including halogenated compounds, terpenoids, bromophenols, hydroquinone, seaweed tannin, and laminine; the other is the intercellular viscous polysaccharides that are difficult to be digested and absorbed, mainly including alginic acid, fucoidin, sulfate polysaccharide, agar and carrageenan in red algae.
 
Seaweed polysaccharides mainly come from kelp, sargassum fusiforme, giant algae, bladder wrack and so on. Seaweed polysaccharides mainly include algin, fucoidin and alginate starch. The crude algin, fucoidin and alginate starch separated from kelp are all white and yellowish powder. The purified sodium alginate was white filamentous; Fucoidin is milky white powder; Both of them are soluble in water, insoluble in ethanol, acetone, chloroform and other organic solvents.
 
GCM-C microfiltration device adopted by Guochu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd., can effectively remove macromolecular colloid, suspended solids and other impurities in seaweed polysaccharide, and obtain clear and transparent polysaccharide solution. Then, seaweed polysaccharidecan be effectively concentrated through GCM-C nanofiltration device. This process has been applied in a mature way.


 
Application of Membrane Technology in the Extraction Process of Chitosan by Guo Chu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd.

Chitosan, also known as deacetylation chitin, is obtained by deacetylation of chitin widely existing in nature. Its chemical name is Polyglucosamine (1-4)-2-Amino-B-D glucose. This kind of natural polymer has aroused a broad attention by various industries for its excellent properties such as biological functionality and compatibility, blood compatibility, safety and microbial degradation. Its application research has made great progress in the fields like medicine, food, chemical industry, cosmetics, water treatment, metal extraction and recovery, biochemical and biomedical engineering. In medical field, the effect of chitosan on reducing blood lipid and blood sugar has been reported.
 
Due to the high viscosity of chitosan, there are many problems with the traditional evaporation process for chitosan concentration, and there has been no effective means to classify chitosan of different molecular weight. By adopting GCM-S ultrafiltration device, Guo Chu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. has successfully retained and concentrated chitosan to more than 5% concentration degree. The process requires no heating and no phase transformation, and the concentrate can be directly used in the end products. The dialysate contains a large number of small molecular polysaccharides. Through GCM-S nanofiltration device, the small molecule chitosan can be effectively recovered and concentrated, achieving the classification of chitosan productsand creating greater value.


 
The application of membrane separation technology in marine biological polysaccharide extraction related industries has a series of advantages, such as improving product quality, simplifying production process, reducing energy consumption and so on. Due to the increasing demand for marine biological polysaccharide extract in the global market and the demand for high-quality marine biological polysaccharide, membrane technology will also be widely used in the marine biological polysaccharide extraction industry. Guo Chu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. has rich experience in the application of membrane separation technology in the extraction of marine biological polysaccharides, and can provide users with comprehensive solutions of new and effective separation technology.