The red seaweed Giant Gelidium (Gelidium corneum) for new bio-based materials in a circular economy framework

Mouga, Teresa; Fernandes, Isabel Barreto

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/7391

Use this identifier to reference this record.

Name:	Description:	Size:	Format:
2022_earth-03-00045_Gelidium.pdf		3.72 MB	Adobe PDF	Download

Send Feedback

Authors

Mouga, Teresa

Fernandes, Isabel Barreto

Abstract(s)

Gelidium corneum (Giant Gelidium or Atlantic agar) is a well-known red seaweed harvested for its high-quality agar content. Agar is a mixture of the polysaccharides used in the food industry as a gelling, thickener, clarifying, and stabilizer agent. The best agar quality is also used in the laboratory as bacteriological agar. Yet, in recent years, the species has been studied for many other applications. Examples of uses are pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food supplements, bioremediation, biofuels, biofertilizers and biostimulants, biomaterials, and nanocrystals, among others. The use of this biomass, though, raises concerns about the sustainability of the resource, since this is not a cultivated species, being harvested in the wild. Thus, other uses of G. corneum biomass increase pressure on wild stocks already stressed due to climate change. However, in a biorefinery approach, a new trend is emerging, using waste biomass rather than harvested biomass to produce new bio-based materials. These are smart solutions that transform waste into innovative products, useful for various sectors of society while reducing the impact of biomass exploitation. The aim of this review paper, thus, is to address the current state of G. corneum biology, ecology, threats, its current uses and market, and the ongoing research on innovative proposals in a circular economy framework.

Description

Funding: This study has been funded by national funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. under the project MARE (UIDP/05468/2020 and UIDP/04292/2020), the project LA/P/0069/2020 granted to the Associate Laboratory ARNET, and the project LIDA (UIDP/05468/2020). This study also had funding from the project MAR2020 Operational Programme MAR 04-03-01-FMP0101-Limo do Cais.

Keywords

Harvested biomass Waste biomass Gelidium corneum applications Biorefinery Circular design Bio-based materials

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/7391

Citation

Mouga, T.; Fernandes, I.B. The Red Seaweed Giant Gelidium (Gelidium corneum) for New Bio-Based Materials in a Circular Economy Framework. Earth 2022, 3, 788–813. https://doi.org/10.3390/ earth3030045