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Microalgae: a new resource for biomaterials
Nicolas LE MOIGNE1, Florian DELRUE2,
Jean-François SASSI2, Guilhem ARRACHART3
1Centre des Matériaux des Mines d’Alès (C2MA), Ecole des Mines d’Alès, 6 avenue de Clavières, 30319 Alès Cedex 2CEA Cadarache, Direction de la Recherche Technologique, B980, 13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance 3Institut de chimie séparative de Marcoule (ICSM), UMR5257 CEA-CNRS-UM2-ENSCM The research on microalgae currently shows a strong worldwide development. Although existing productions and commercial applications mainly concern the food industry and the pharma- nutraceuticals and cosmetic, the capacity of microalgae to transform solar energy and CO2 into lipids, proteins and carbohydrates as well as unique products like antioxidants, fatty acids, peptides, sterols… make them promising sources of energy, chemicals and materials. The present research work aimed to prepare biomaterials from microalgae. Two main processing strategies are investigated: (i) the dissolution of microalgae to prepare biopolymer based solutions and (ii) the direct plasticization of microalgae to prepare biopolymer blends. To this aim, a screening on various freshwater and seawater microalgae exhibiting different biochemical composition and cellular structures, was conducted. Furthermore, growing conditions of microalgae were controlled so as to investigate the possibility to enrich cells in biopolymers of interest (especially starch). The dissolution of microalgae was achieved in Ionic liquids (ILs) due to their high ability to solvate organic compounds and their environmental compatibility compared to chemical extraction methods involving organic solvents. The plasticization of microalgae was achieved by twin screw extrusion with glycerol as a plasticizer. First microalgae based objects were produced in the form of gels, foams and bulk materials. This set of results opens new insights about the use of microalgae for producing biomaterials.
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