Production of bioplastics precursors (polyhydroxyalkanoates) from macroalgae
- Ana Belén Díaz 1
- Kaoutar Aboudi 1
- Cristina Agabo-García 1
- Pedro Fernández-Medina 1
- Xiomara Gómez-Quiroga 1
- Agustín Romero-Vargas 1
- Manuel Jesús Díaz 1
- Luis Alberto Fdez-Güelfo 1
- Carlos Álvarez-Gallego 1
- Ana Blandino 1
- Luis Isidoro Romero-García 1
- 1 Department of Chemical Engineering and Food Technologies, Faculty of Sciences, Wine and Agrifood Research Institute (IVAGRO), University of Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain
Editorial: BEING SEA-EU
Año de publicación: 2024
Páginas: 316
Tipo: Aportación congreso
Resumen
Rugulopteryx okamurae is an invasive macroalgae, which has accumulated in large quantities in the Gibraltar Strait, causing serious environmental and social problems, affecting marine life and local economy in the area. Due to its extensive expansion, it has spread in the south of Spain towards the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. Given thehigh availability of this macroalgae biomass, the aim of this work is to use it as raw material for the production of precursors for bioplastics, specifically polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), in the line of the principles of bioeconomy and circular economy. Seaweeds have the potential to emerge as a preferable raw material over terrestrial biomass form producing high-value products through biotechnological processes. They offer the advantage of not requiring land occupation or irrigation for cultivation, do not compete with human food sources like energy crops, and exhibit a rich polysaccharide chemical composition. In this work, PHAs production from macroalgae biomass was performed usingmonosaccharides or volatile fatty acids, derived from saccharification and dark fermentation, respectively, using a pure culture (Cupriavidus necator) and a mixed culture of PHA-producing microorganisms selected from sewage sludge. Several pretreatments were applied before these processes to enhance organic matter accessibility and improve PHAs production.