Valorising algal biomass

Context

Brown algal biomass (both wild and farmed) is exploited for food and food ingredients in parts of Asia and Europe, but remains largely unexploited in the UK even though there is a natural abundance and potential for farming.

The use of such seaweed biomass has the potential for developing new low carbon materials without putting pressure on agricultural land, and there are new start-up industries. Research efforts are trying to develop value chains around brown algae in the UK through farming or collection.

More recently, a new driver for the valorisation has emerged with the widespread algal appearance invasion of Sargassum muticum, an invasive brown alga. Alginates are major structural polysaccharides from the cell walls of brown algae and are polymers of acidic sugars.

Research

These projects aim to produce biodegradable, biobased polyesters plastics, fibres and packaging materials derived from algae biomass. We have established an efficient and sustainable protocol to extract and hydrolyse alginates from farmed and invasive brown algae (Saccharina, Laminaria, Saccorhiza and Sargassum), and use different algal fraction to replace unsustainable technologies.

Together with our industrial partners, we are developing a novel, biocatalysed method to produce algae-derived functional polymers, and films for packaging and home care formulations.