The seasonal variation of fucoidan within three species of brown macroalgae

Fucoidan is comprised of a fucose backbone with sulphate groups, whose variation is important to the functionality of the polysaccharide. The structure of fucoidan has been reported to vary according to species, season, location and maturity; however there is currently little published data to support this. Understanding the seasonal variation of fucoidan is important for industrial applications to identify optimum harvesting times and ensure consistent product composition. This study explores the seasonal variation of three species of brown macroalgae, Fucus serratus (FS), Fucus vesiculosus (FV) and Ascophyllum nodosum (AN), harvested monthly off the coast of Aberystwyth, UK. Average fucoidan content is 6.0, 9.8 and 8.0 wt% respectively for FS, FV and AN, with highest quantities extracted in autumn and lowest in spring. Fucose content, varied between 18 and 28, 26–39 and 35–46 wt% and sulphate content between 30 and 40, 9–35 and 6–22 wt% for FS, FV and AN respectively, with both fluctuating inversely to the total fucoidan content. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) has provided insight into the structural differences between the species. Based on the molecular weight (MW) distribution, and in line with previous research, it is hypothesised that fucoidan in FS has a more complex structure, with a higher degree of associated sulphate ions than in FV and AN which have a simpler, linear structure with less associated sulphate ions

Macroalgal biorefinery concepts for the circular bioeconomy: A review on biotechnological developments and future perspectives

The imminent need for transition to a circular bioeconomy, based on the valorisation of renewable biomass feedstocks, will ameliorate global challenges induced by climate change, environmental pollution and population growth. A reduced reliance on depleting fossil fuel resources and ensured production of eco-friendly and cost-effective bioproducts and biofuels, requires the development of sustainable biorefinery processes, with many utilising macroalgae as feedstock, showing promising and viable prospects. Nonetheless, macroalgal biorefinery research is still in its infancy compared to lignocellulosic biorefineries that utilise terrestrial plants. This article presents a review on the latest scientific literature associated with the development and status of macroalgal biorefineries, and how bioproducts generated from these bioprocesses have contributed towards the bioeconomy. The fundamental need to understand how the unique biochemical composition of macroalgae fit within a biorefinery concept are explained, alongside discussion of the novel biotechnologies that have been applied. In order to comprehend the increasing significance of this exciting field, the review will also provide insight, for the first time, on the current global funding and intellectual property landscape related to macroalgae and their implementation across the entire biorefinery concept. Imperative areas for further research and development, to bridge the gap between fundamental bioscience in the laboratory and the successful application of compatible biotechnologies at a commercial scale, to boost the macroalgae industry are also covered

Biomethanation potential of biological and other wastes

Anaerobic technology has been traditionally applied for the treatment of carbon rich wastewater and organic residues. Anaerobic processes can be fully integrated in the biobased economy concept for resource recovery. After a brief introduction about applications of anaerobic processes to industrial wastewater treatment, agriculture feedstock and organic fraction of municipal solid waste, the position of anaerobic processes in biorefinery concepts is presented. Integration of anaerobic digestion with these processes can help in the maximisation of the economic value of the biomass used, while reducing the waste streams produced and mitigating greenhouse gases emissions. Besides the integration of biogas in the existing full-scale bioethanol and biodiesel production processes, the potential applications of biogas in the second generation lignocellulosic, algae and syngas-based biorefinery platforms are discussed.(undefined

Anaerobic digestion and gasification of seaweed

The potential of algal biomass as a source of liquid and gaseous biofuels is a highly topical theme, with over 70 years of sometimes intensive research and considerable financial investment. A wide range of unit operations can be combined to produce algal biofuel, but as yet there is no successful commercial system producing such biofuel. This suggests that there are major technical and engineering difficulties to be resolved before economically viable algal biofuel production can be achieved. Both gasification and anaerobic digestion have been suggested as promising methods for exploiting bioenergy from biomass, and two major projects have been funded in the UK on the gasification and anaerobic digestion of seaweed, MacroBioCrude and SeaGas. This chapter discusses the use of gasification and anaerobic digestion of seaweed for the production of biofuel

Publisher Correction: Stroke genetics informs drug discovery and risk prediction across ancestries.

In the version of this article initially published, the name of the PRECISE4Q Consortium was misspelled as “PRECISEQ” and has now been amended in the HTML and PDF versions of the article. Further, data in the first column of Supplementary Table 55 were mistakenly shifted and have been corrected in the file accompanying the HTML version of the article