Phycocyanin

The blue protein that makes spirulina blue. Water soluble, label friendly, and fragile in exactly the places a factory is hard. This page is what it is, what the grades mean, where it holds, and what it costs.

What phycocyanin is

Phycocyanin is a phycobiliprotein: a protein with a light harvesting pigment, phycocyanobilin, bound to it. In the living cell of Arthrospira platensis, the organism sold as spirulina, it collects the orange red light that chlorophyll misses and passes the energy on. Out of the cell it does one thing that matters to a formulator: it absorbs at 620 nm and reflects blue.

Two forms come off the same biomass. C-phycocyanin is the bulk of it and gives the clean sky blue. Allophycocyanin is a smaller fraction that reads violet, and it is the base of a natural purple that does not swing with pH the way anthocyanins do. Both are proteins, and everything about handling them follows from that.

On a label it is spirulina extract. It has no E number in the European Union and no certification requirement in the United States, which is most of the reason brands replacing a synthetic blue end up here.

At a glance

Source	Arthrospira platensis
Chromophore	Phycocyanobilin
Absorbs at	620 nm
Solubility	Water
Stable pH range	4.0 to 7.5
Thermal limit	72 °C, short hold
INCI	Spirulina Platensis Extract
On the label	Spirulina extract, no E number

What E18 and E40 mean

The E number on a phycocyanin grade is its colour value: the absorbance of a 1% solution at 620 nm across a 1 cm path, divided by 10. E18 reads 180 colour units, E40 reads 400. The number is a measure of how much blue a gram delivers, which is what the price per kilo should be judged against.

An E18 grade carries about 24% C-phycocyanin on a carrier, usually trehalose, which is what makes it flow, disperse and survive on the shelf. An E40 grade is about 60% C-phycocyanin with no carrier at all, so the excipient system is yours to choose and a gram goes roughly two and a half times further. The certificate of analysis is the place to check both figures on the lot you actually receive.

TintBlue E18

Food and beverage grade

C-phycocyanin ≥24%. Colour value ≥180 CU.

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TintBlue E40

Carrier free concentrate

C-phycocyanin ≥60%. Colour value ≥400 CU.

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Phycora

C-phycocyanin, supplement grade

C-phycocyanin 60%. Total phycocyanin ≥75%.

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Lumia

Cosmetic active

C-phycocyanin ≥60%. Add below 40 °C.

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Where it holds and where it breaks

Acid gets the blame when a spirulina blue fades in a drink. The kinetics say otherwise: the protein is more stable at pH 5 than at pH 7, and holds from pH 4.0 up. Below pH 3.5 it unfolds and no cold store brings it back.

What breaks it is heat, and time at temperature. Pasteurisation at 72 °C for a short hold is survivable and we sell against it. UHT and retort are not. On the shelf, warm and lit is the enemy and cold and dark buys months, which is why we publish retention with the matrix, the pH and the temperature attached rather than as one flattering number.

Read: How to buy phycocyanin: nine questions a supplier should be able to answer on paper →Read: Phycocyanin as a supplement active: what the human trials show, and what a label can say →Read: Phycocyanin on skin: what the cell data supports and what it does not →

TintBlue E18, retention with the conditions

pH 4.5, beverage, ambient	85% at 12 months
pH 4.0, held cold	92% at 12 months
pH 4.0, ambient	60% at 12 months
Sealed powder sachet	90% at 18 months, projected

Read the middle two together. Same pH, same product, 32 points apart. The variable that moved was temperature.

How it is dosed, by market

Food and beverage

0.05 to 0.30% w/w of E18 in beverages, gummies, ice cream and confectionery. Pre-disperse at 5 to 10% in cold deionised water, add to the aqueous phase below 40 °C, keep the finished product above pH 3.5, pack opaque.

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Supplements

100 to 500 mg per capsule, 5 to 50 mg per gummy, 100 to 500 mg in a stick pack. A carrier free grade means what the certificate reports is the molecule itself, so what you declare is what you dosed. Heavy metals by ICP-MS on every lot.

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Cosmetics

0.05 to 0.5% in serums, 0.1 to 0.5% in oil in water creams, 0.2 to 1.0% in masks. Into the water phase below 40 °C, above pH 4.5 with 5.5 preferred. Brightening and antioxidant defence claims, with the study behind each one.

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What it costs, and how to buy it

The food grade is priced in five published bands, from $180 per kg at 1 kg down to $125 per kg at 250 kg, Ex-Works. Every band is on the product page, and volumes past the top band are quoted and go lower.

Minimum order is 1 kg per product. Orders go by proforma, so nothing is charged until you approve a number that already includes the real freight on your box. Every shipment travels with the certificate of analysis for the lot you receive.

Before any of that, the sample is free: 30 g of E18 colours 10 to 60 kg of finished product at typical use levels, ships within 5 business days with the data sheet and the certificate, and you pay a flat 50 USD freight, the only charge.

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Regulatory, in one table

European Union	Spirulina extract under Regulation 1333/2008. Existing food, no Novel Food dossier.
United States	Spirulina extract (color) under 21 CFR 73.530, exempt from certification.
Mercosur and LATAM	Extracto de espirulina under GMC 11/2006.
Cosmetics	CosIng listed. Compliant with Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009.
Quality system	Produced under ISO 9001 and ISO 22000. HS code 3203.00.

Questions a buyer asks first

What is phycocyanin?

Phycocyanin is the blue pigment protein of spirulina, a phycobiliprotein that absorbs orange red light at 620 nm and reflects blue. It is water soluble, sold as a powder, and is the active in spirulina extract, the natural blue food colour.

What do E18 and E40 mean?

The E number is the colour value of the powder: the absorbance of a 1% solution at 620 nm across a 1 cm path, divided by 10. An E18 grade reads 180 colour units and carries roughly 24% C-phycocyanin on a trehalose carrier. An E40 grade reads 400 colour units and is about 60% C-phycocyanin with no carrier.

Is phycocyanin stable in acid?

More stable than at neutral pH, down to about pH 4.0. Below pH 3.5 the protein unfolds and the colour is lost. What breaks phycocyanin in practice is heat: pasteurisation at 72 °C for a short hold is survivable, UHT and retort are not.

How much phycocyanin goes into a beverage?

Between 0.05 and 0.30% w/w of an E18 grade, depending on the matrix, the sweetener system and the target shade. A 1.2 g per litre inclusion at pH 4.5 gives a sports drink blue with 85% retention at 12 months ambient.

Does phycocyanin need an E number on the label?

No. In the European Union it is declared as spirulina extract under Regulation 1333/2008. In the United States it is spirulina extract (color) under 21 CFR 73.530, exempt from certification.

What does phycocyanin cost per kilo?

Published bands for the food grade run from a small pack price down to the 250 kg band, Ex-Works, with every band on the product page. Volumes past the top band are quoted. A 30 g sample is free and ships within 5 business days.

Put it in your matrix.

Free, sized for a real test, and dispatched within 5 business days. Tell us what it has to survive.

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