Abstract:As a natural pigment protein with great application value, phycocyanin is widely used in food, medicine and cosmetics. As the key to the successful application of phycocyanin in different fields, its extraction and purification technologies have been attracting much attention. This paper comprehensively discusses a variety of methods and the latest research results on the extraction and purification of phycocyanin in recent years, explains the working principle as well as the advantages and disadvantages of various crude extraction and purification processes, and focuses on the combination of extraction and purification methods that are suitable for large-scale industrial production through the freeze-thaw method of pre-treatment, and summarizes the purity and extraction rate of phycocyanin. At the application level, we will discuss the research progress and application examples of phycocyanin in the fields of food, medicine and cosmetics. Finally, we summaries the problems of the current research status and prospect the future research direction, aiming to provide a comprehensive and valuable reference for the research and application of phycocyanin.