דוקטורנטים מספרים - Efraim Steinbruch
Seaweeds for Food
Efraim Steinbruch (Ph.D. candidate)
Supervisor: Prof. Alexander Golberg
My name is Efraim Steinbruch. I am researching the production of alternative proteins and vitamins from Seaweed.
The increasing demand for sources of protein (for humans and livestock), along with the growing population, longevity, and higher standard of living, are expected to involve much more land area and greater amounts of fresh water for agriculture. If the source of food and feed protein supply remains exclusively terrestrial and plant-based, this growing demand will cause irreversible environmental damage. The current worldwide challenge is to meet this demand sustainably. Food proteins from seaweeds are an exciting and sustainable alternative to plant proteins such as soy, nuts, and cereals, because of their higher protein content and good nutritional quality, rapid growth rates and also because they do not require arable land or fresh water for their production. However, extracting food protein from seaweeds on a massive scale is still hindered by their properties and the production costs. Among the major problems identified with the most studied food protein from seaweed are extraction methods and technologies. Therefore, it is necessary to develop novel approach for food protein extraction from seaweeds.
Different methods to surge the extraction of the protein yield for macroalgae have been described: aqueous, acidic, alkaline, enzymatic, mechanical grinding, high shear force. However, current methods used for protein extraction often involve thermal or chemical procedures that could affect the nutritional value of the extracted proteins and peptides. To address these problems, non-thermal, chemical-free protein extraction methods from macroalgae are required. Pulsed electric field (PEF) is an emerging method that is already being used for energy-efficient extraction of proteins from plants.
When the cell is exposed to high external electric fields for a sufficient amount of time (enough time to charge the membrane or longer), the cell membrane becomes permeable to ions and molecules as large as protein.
The aim of my Ph.D. research is to develop a sustainable process for extracting proteins based on marine seaweed feedstock. This should be feasible on a large scale, and must be suitable for consumption by both human and animals.
