Dinoflagellates as sustainable cellulose source: Cultivation, extraction, and characterization

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Marine Biotechnology
• Sustainable Chemistry

Background:

• Growing demand for biodegradable materials from natural sources.
• Microalgae, specifically dinoflagellates, are identified as a sustainable source for natural materials like cellulose.
• Photosynthetic dinoflagellates utilize sunlight and CO2, requiring no fertilizers, for growth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish laboratory cultivation of dinoflagellate species (Peridinium sp. and Prorocentrum micans).
• To optimize cellulose extraction from these microalgae.
• To thoroughly characterize the properties of the extracted dinoflagellate cellulose.

Main Methods:

• Cultivation of dinoflagellates up to 20 L scale.
• Cellulose extraction via sequential treatment with 30% NaOH, 6 M HCl, and 10% H2O2.
• Characterization using ICP-OES, SEM, XRD, ATR-FTIR, Raman, ssNMR, TGA, BET, and GPC.

Main Results:

• Optimized extraction yielded approximately 73% (w/w) cellulose with 85% intact morphology.
• Extracted cellulose is highly pure, lignin-free, and exhibits high porosity.
• XRD, ATR-FTIR, Raman, and ssNMR confirmed the absence of cellulose II allomorph and amorphous nature.

Conclusions:

• Dinoflagellate-derived cellulose is a highly porous, pure, and thermally stable material (up to 260°C).
• The material retains significant cellulosic morphology post-extraction.
• This sustainable cellulose is a promising candidate for developing functional hybrid materials in biomedical applications.