Effect of saponification method on extracting β-carotene from Blakeslea trispora

The extracting β-carotene from Blakeslea trispora using saponification was studied to get the best craft condition. The optimum saponification extracting conditions of β-carotene from Blakeslea trispora were studied by the orthogonal test design. The results showed that the influencing sequence of different factors on extraction was as follows: the added NaOH saponified temperature, and saponified time. The optimum extracting condition were as the following: NaOH 0.5 mol/mL, ratio of materical and solvent 1 ∶8 (g ∶mL), saponified temperature is 35 ℃, saponified time is 50 min. Alkaline saponification can remove the glyceride and fatty acid. The extraction yield of β-carotene was 87.9%.