Cellulosic material obtained from Antarctic algae biomass
Carreno, Neftali L.
- 1Universidade Federal de Pelotas
- 2Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
- 3
- 4Universidade de Sao Paulo
- 5Universidade Estadual Paulista
Journal
Cellulose
ISSN
0969-0239
1572-882X
Open Access
closed
Volume
27
Start page
113
End page
126
Algae biomass is a raw material widely used by many industrial sectors, such as food production, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, fertilizers, biofuels, and many others. Its usage is mainly due to the phycocolloids content, such as alginates, carrageenans, agar, etc. One of the polysaccharides present in this biomass, and still little explored is cellulose, an important resource with several technological applications, for example: production of nanocellulose, ultralightweight structures, drug delivery, tissue engineering, wound dressings, among others. Thus, we used the Antarctic algae Cystosphaera jacquinottii as raw material for the production of a cellulosic material combining alkaline treatment, bleaching, and freeze-drying. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy results revealed that the methodology employed was effective to obtain cellulose. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the material obtained had crystallinity above 70%. Scanning electron microscopy analyses showed a highly porous morphology, consisting of cellulose nanofibers with a diameter about 32 nm. [GRAPHICS] .