Standards Development
This document describes a method for determining the total protein content of algal biomass.
Therefore, an existing method for measurement and calculation will be adapted.
The method consists of the measurement of the nitrogen content by a practical test method and the calculation of the protein content by a coefficient.
The document will describe the test method for nitrogen measurement. As the coefficient usually used for protein determination (6.25) is too high for algae, the document will give a recommendation for a coefficient which is more specific to algae and thereby more accurate.
Determining the total protein content of biomass is commonly done in the industry for vegetable and animal products. The determination can be divided into two steps: the measurement of the nitrogen content and the calculation of the protein content from the nitrogen content. For nitrogen measurement there are several methods in use.
This document will describe the two most practical and accurate methods for micro- and macroalgae. In the second step, the nitrogen content is multiplied by a factor (nitrogen-to-protein conversion factor or NCF) to obtain the protein content.
The generic factor of 6.25 is commonly used for many products, but this factor has been widely reported to be overestimated for protein determination in algae.
Therefore, this document is developed with the aim to give algae producers and algae products industries one recommendation and one alternative for the nitrogen measurement and a more specific factor for the protein calculation of algae.
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