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 efficiently use solar energy and CO2 to produce lipids, proteins and carbohydrates as well as unique products like antioxidants, fatty acids, peptides, sterols… make them promising sources of energy, intermediate chemicals and materials. The present research work aims to prepare bio-based polymer materials 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) with controlled hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance, 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, and biopolymer blends composed of plasticized microalgae with fractions of Poly(butylene Succinate) (PBS) were prepared. First microalgae based objects were produced in the form of gels, foams and bulk materials (See Figure). This set of results opens interesting perspectives about the use of microalgae for producing bio-based polymer materials.

Microalgae: A new resource for processing bio-based polymer materials

255th National Meeting (2018)

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