A process for the preparation of natural blue colourant from spirulina species

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of phycocyanin a natural blue colorant from spirulina species, which involves washing of the biomass, homogenization of the cells followed by acidification. Sedimenting and centrifuging the homogenized solution in order to remove the contaminants such as cell debris, chlorophyll, and subjecting the obtained supernatant to adsorption in a packed bed column of suitable adsorbents before lyophilizing the phycocyanin solution to powder form. The purity of phycocyanin (ratio of the absorption of 620 nm to 280 nm)is=4.0.