| Summary: | Seaweeds are a rich source of protein and can contain up to 47% on the dry weight basis. It is challenging to extract proteins from the raw biomass of seaweed due to resilient cell-wall complexes. Four species of macroalgae were used in this study-two brown, <i>Fucus vesiculosus</i> and <i>Alaria esculenta</i>, and two red, <i>Palmaria palmata</i> and <i>Chondrus crispus</i>. Three treatments were applied individually to the macroalgal species: (I) high-pressure processing (HPP); (II) laboratory autoclave processing and (III) a classical sonication and salting out method. The protein, ash and lipid contents of the resulting extracts were estimated. Yields of protein recovered ranged from 3.2% for <i>Fucus vesiculosus</i> pre-treated with high pressure processing to 28.9% protein recovered for <i>Chondrus crispus</i> treated with the classical method. The yields of protein recovered using the classical, HPP and autoclave pre-treatments applied to <i>Fucus vesiculosus</i> were 35.1, 23.7% and 24.3%, respectively; yields from <i>Alaria esculenta</i> were 18.2%, 15.0% and 17.1% respectively; yields from <i>Palmaria palmata</i> were 12.5%, 14.9% and 21.5% respectively, and finally, yields from <i>Chondrus crispus</i> were 35.2%, 16.1% and 21.9%, respectively. These results demonstrate that while macroalgal proteins may be extracted using either physical or enzymatic methods, the specific extraction procedure should be tailored to individual species.
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