Abstract
Recently, seaweeds have gained attention as possible renewable sources for biofuel and bioproduct production. To investigate the possibility of using green seaweeds as biomass feedstocks, the chemical composition and saccharification yield of the green seaweed Ulva pertusa were investigated. In this study, we evaluated U. pertusa that was harvested from the seashore in Jeju Island, Korea. By proximate composition analysis, dried U. pertusa was found to contain 52.3% carbohydrate, 25.1% protein, 0.1% lipid, and 22.5% ash. The elemental analysis of U. pertusa indicated the content of carbon to be 34.9%, hydrogen 5.3%, oxygen 46.5%, nitrogen 3.8%, sulfur 3.1%, and phosphorous 0.12%. The optimal conditions for the acid hydrolysis and saccharification of U. pertusa were investigated by varying the types of catalysts, catalyst concentration, reaction time, reaction temperature, and seaweed concentration. Under optimized acid hydrolysis condition, 32.9% of seaweed was recovered as monosaccharides and the monosaccharide composition was 11.5% D-glucuronic acid and D-glucuronic acid lactone, 11.1% L-rhamnose, 6.7% D-glucose, and 3.7% D-xylose. The concept of degree of reductance was introduced to assess the potential of U. pertusa as an industrial feedstock. It was found that the degree of reductance of U. pertusa was lowest among the biomass considered in this study. Based on the comparison of chemical composition and reductance degree of various biomass resources, the competitiveness of U. pertusa as a biomass feedstock for biofuel and bioproduct production was discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cherubini, F. (2010) The biorefinery concept: Using biomass instead of oil for producing energy and chemicals. Ene. Convers. Manage. 51: 1412–1421.
Perlack, R. D., L. L. Wright, A. F. Turhollow, R. L. Graham, B. J. Stokes, and D. C. Erbach (2005) Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Oak Ridge, TN, USA.
Roesijadi, G., S. B. Jones, L. J. Snowden-Swan, and Y. Zhu (2010) Macroalgae as a Biomass Feedstock: A Preliminary Analysis. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
Zhao, J., P. Jiang, N. Li, J. Wang, Z. Liu, and S. Qin (2010) Analysis of genetic variation within and among Ulva pertusa (Ulvaceae, Chlorophyta) populations using ISSR markers. Chin. Sci. Bull. 55: 705–711.
Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) (2009) Food Code. KFDA, Seoul, Korea.
Miao, Z., T. E. Grift, A. C. Hansen, and K. C. Ting (2011) Energy requirement for comminution of biomass in relation to particle physical properties. Ind. Crop. Prod. 33: 504–513.
Marinho-Soriano, E., P. C. Fonseca, M. A. A. Carneiro, and W. S. C. Moreira (2006) Seasonal variation in the chemical composition of two tropical seaweeds. Bioresour. Technol. 97: 2402–2406.
Rural Development Administration (2007) Food Composition Table. 7th ed., pp. 328–335. Jeonju, Korea.
Matanjun, P., S. Mohamed, N. M. Mustapha, and K. Muhammad (2009) Nutrient content of tropical edible seaweeds, Eucheuma cottonii, Caulerpa lentillifera and Sargassum polycystum. J. Appl. Phycol. 21: 75–80.
Leung, W. T. W., R. R. Butrum, and F. H. Chang (1972) Food Composition Table for Use in East Asia. Part I Proximate Composition, Mineral and Vitamin Contents of East Asian Foods. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy.
Do, J. R., Y. J. Nam, J. H. Park, and J. H. Jo (1997) Studies on chemical composition of red algae. J. Kor. Fish. Soc. 30: 428–431.
Montville, J. B., J. K. C. Ahuja, L. A. Ingwersen, E. S. Haggerty, C. W. Enns, and B. P. Perloff (2006) USDA food and nutrient database for dietary studies: Released on the web. J. Food Compos. Anal. 19: S100–S107.
Fayaz. M., K. K. Namitha, K. N. C. Murthy, M. M. Swamy, R. Sarada, S. Khanam, P. V. Subbarao, and G. A. Ravishankar (2005) Chemical composition, iron bioavailability, and antioxidant activity of Kappaphycus alvarezzi (Doty). J. Agric. Food Chem. 53: 792–797.
Denis, C., M. Morançais, M. Li, E. Deniaud, P. Gaudin, G. Wielgosz-Collin, G. Barnathan, P. Jaouen, and J. Fleurence (2010) Study of the chemical composition of edible red macroalgae Grateloupia turuturu from Brittany (France). Food Chem. 119: 913–917.
Wong, K. H. and P. C. K. Cheung (2000) Nutritional evaluation of some subtropical red and green seaweeds: Part I- proximate composition, amino acid profiles and some physico-chemical properties. Food Chem. 71: 475–482.
Yu, L. J., S. Wang, X. M. Jiang, N. Wang, and C. Q. Zhang (2008) Thermal analysis studies on combustion characteristics of seaweed. J. Therm. Anal. Calorim. 93: 611–617.
Garivait, S., U. Chaiyo, S. Patumsawad, and J. Deakhuntod (2006) Physical and chemical properties of Thai biomass fuels from agricultural residues. Proceeding of the 2nd Joint International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environment. November 1–23. Bangkok, Thailand.
Jablonski, W., K. R. Gaston, M. R. Nimlos, D. L. Carpenter, C. J. Feik, and S. D. Phillips (2009) Pilot-scale gasification of corn stover, switchgrass, wheat straw, and wood: 2. Identification of global chemistry using multivariate curve resolution techniques. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 48: 10691-10701.
Naik, S., V. V. Goud, P. K. Rout, K. Jacobson, and A. K. Dalai (2010) Characterization of Canadian biomass for alternative renewable biofuel. Renew. Energ. 35: 1624-1631.
Lahaye, M. and A. Robic (2007) Structure and functional properties of ulvan, a polysaccharide from green seaweeds. Biomacromol. 8: 1765-1774.
Praiboon, J., A. Chirapart, Y. Akakabe, O. Bhumibhamond and T. Kajiwara (2006) Physical and chemical characterization of agar polysaccharides extracted from the Thai and Japanese species of Gracilaria. Sci. Asia 32: 11–17.
Zhang, J., Q. Zhang, J. Wang, X. Shi, and Z. Zhang (2009) Analysis of the monosaccharide composition of fucoidan by precolumn derivation HPLC. Chin. J. Oceanol. Limn. 27: 578–582.
Hwang, E. K., H. Amano, and C. S. Park (2008) Assessment of the nutritional value of Capsosiphon fulvescens (Chlorophyta): Developing a new species of marine macroalgae for cultivation in Korea. J. Appl. Phycol. 20: 147–151.
Ruperez, P. (2002) Mineral content of edible marine seaweeds. Food Chem. 79: 23–26.
Lourence, S. O., E. Barbarino, J. C. De-Paula, L. O. D. S. Pereira, and U. M. L. Marquez (2002) Amino acid composition, protein content and calculation of nitrogen-to-protein conversion factors for 19 tropical seaweeds. Phycol. Res. 50: 233–241.
Jung, K. J., C. H. Jung, J. H. Pyeun, and Y. J. Choi (2005) Changes of food components in Mesangi (Capsosiphon fulvecense), Gashiparae (Enteromorpha prolifera), and Cheonggak (Codium fragile) Depending on Harvest Times. J. Kor. Soc. Food Sci. Nutr. 34: 687–693.
Imai, Y. and Y. Hirasaka (1960) The equilibrium between glucuronic acid and its lactone. Yakugaku Zasshi 80: 1139-1142.
Biermann, C. J. and G. D. McGinnis (1989) Analysis of Carbohydrates by GLC and MS. p. 6. CRC Press, NY, USA.
Mosier, N. S., C. M. Ladisch, and M. R. Ladisch (2002) Characterization of acid catalytic domains for cellulose hydrolysis and glucose degradation. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 79: 610–618.
Lee, S. Y., J. W. Ahn, H. J. Hwang, and S. B. Lee (2011) Seaweed biomass resources in Korea. KSBB J. 26: 267–276.
Shuler, M. L. and F. Kargi (2002) Bioprocess Engineering: Basic Concepts. 2nd ed., pp. 211-214. Prentice-Hall Inc., NJ, USA.
Choi, W. Y., D.-H. Kang, and H.-Y. Lee (2013) Enhancement of the saccharification yields of Ulva pertusa Kjellmann and rape stems by the high-pressure steam pretreatment process. Biotechnol. Bioproc. Eng. 18: 728–735.
Lee, S. B., S. J. Cho, J. A. Kim, S. Y. Lee, S. M. Kim, and H. S. Lim (2014) Metabolic pathway of 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose in agar-degrading microorganisms. Biotechnol. Bioproc. Eng. 19: 866–878.
Hwang, H. J., S. Y. Lee, S. M. Kim, and S. B. Lee (2011) Fermentation of seaweed sugars by Lactobacillus species and the potential of seaweed as a biomass feedstock. Biotechnol. Bioproc. Eng. 16: 1231–1239.
Hwang, H. J., S. M. Kim, J. H. Chang, and S. B. Lee (2012) Lactic acid production from seaweed hydrolysate of Enteromorpha prolifera (Chlorophyta). J. Appl. Phycol. 24: 935–940.
Werpy, T. and G. Petersen (2004). Top Value Added Chemicals from Biomass. Volume 1, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington DC, USA.
Ahn, J. W., S. Y. Lee, S. Kim, S. M. Kim, S. B. Lee, and K. J. Kim (2011) Crystal structure of glucuronic acid dehydrogenase from Chromohalobacter salexigens, Proteins 80: 314–318.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lee, S.Y., Chang, J.H. & Lee, S.B. Chemical composition, saccharification yield, and the potential of the green seaweed Ulva pertusa . Biotechnol Bioproc E 19, 1022–1033 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-014-0654-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12257-014-0654-8