Production of bioplastic precursors (polyhydroxyalkanoates) from macroalgae
type: CreativeWork
description: In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of macroalgae to obtain high value-added products through biotechnological processes. This natural biomass has many advantages, such as the fact that they do not need land or fresh water to be cultivated. Moreover, they are not energy crops, so they do not compete directly with those that are a food resource, such as maize or wheat. Another aspect that makes them interesting is that around half of their dry weight are carbohydrates, such as cellulose or laminarin in the case of brown algae, in addition to other glucose polysaccharides that can be found depending on the species. These unconventional carbon sources can be used as substrates in fermentation processes to produce compounds of industrial interest, such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), precursors of bioplastics, and thus contribute to reducing the impact of conventional plastics on the environment. However, due to the integral nature of the macroalgae structure, the accessibility of microorganisms to organic matter is restricted, so it is necessary to study the most appropriate way to solubilise it. Studies on the solubilisation of organic matter in macroalgae are scarce and very recent, so methodologies described for lignocellulosic matter, which have been widely studied, are usually applied. Among the techniques used, the ones that offer the best yields include a chemical pretreatment stage and an enzymatic hydrolysis or saccharification stage. The former is used to weaken the structure of the biomass and facilitate accessibility to the carbohydrates of which it is composed. In the second, the bioconversion of polysaccharides to fermentable monosaccharides takes place. In this Doctoral Thesis, the invasive species Rugulopteryx okamurae was used as algal biomass, a brown alga whose origin is in the coasts of East Asia, but which has reached the Mediterranean coast and is causing serious environmental problems, affecting native species, and hav…
abstract: In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of macroalgae to obtain high value-added products through biotechnological processes. This natural biomass has many advantages, such as the fact that they do not need land or fresh water to be cultivated. Moreover, they are not energy crops, so they do not compete directly with those that are a food resource, such as maize or wheat. Another aspect that makes them interesting is that around half of their dry weight are carbohydrates, such as cellulose or laminarin in the case of brown algae, in addition to other glucose polysaccharides that can be found depending on the species. These unconventional carbon sources can be used as substrates in fermentation processes to produce compounds of industrial interest, such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), precursors of bioplastics, and thus contribute to reducing the impact of conventional plastics on the environment. However, due to the integral nature of the macroalgae structure, the accessibility of microorganisms to organic matter is restricted, so it is necessary to study the most appropriate way to solubilise it. Studies on the solubilisation of organic matter in macroalgae are scarce and very recent, so methodologies described for lignocellulosic matter, which have been widely studied, are usually applied. Among the techniques used, the ones that offer the best yields include a chemical pretreatment stage and an enzymatic hydrolysis or saccharification stage. The former is used to weaken the structure of the biomass and facilitate accessibility to the carbohydrates of which it is composed. In the second, the bioconversion of polysaccharides to fermentable monosaccharides takes place. In this Doctoral Thesis, the invasive species Rugulopteryx okamurae was used as algal biomass, a brown alga whose origin is in the coasts of East Asia, but which has reached the Mediterranean coast and is causing serious environmental problems, affecting native species, and hav…
author: Romero Vargas, Agustín
language: eng
keywords: Macroalga, Pretreatment, Reducing sugars, Enzymatic Hydrolysis, Fermentation, Polyhydroxyalkanoates, Cupriavidus necator, Rugulopteryx okamurae
license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
date published: 2024-10
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:29:27Z
provider: Universidad de Cadiz
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Universidad de Cadiz

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/10498/36722