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Sargassum delignification: a first step to mitigate the socio-economic and environmental impacts in the Caribbean through its sustainable exploitation

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Abstract

Massive blooms of pelagic Sargassum in Caribbean shores cause several economic and environmental affectations. Their industrial exploitation could help to mitigate the negative impacts associate with their accumulation; however, their utilization had been limited due the presence of a recalcitrant polyphenolic net (lignin). So, this study was focused on the development of a treatment with mild operation conditions which reduce the lignin content facilitating the production of value-added compounds under a zero-waste scheme. The treatment was carried out with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as oxidant reagent; it is cheaper than other reagents and during their reaction, the only products are oxygen and water; their concentration and retention time were evaluated achieving delignification yields from 30.72 to 75.43%. The best conditions for Sargassum delignification were 3 h and 10% (v/v) of H2O2. Infrared specters and thermogravimetrical analysis confirmed the remotion of the recalcitrant material. As well, micrographs obtained by the scanning electronic micrograph prove that the treatment removes the layer which covers the carbohydrates matrix. The industrial applications of the oxidative process could help to turn the Sargassum crisis into an opportunity, contributing to the mitigation of the environmental and socioeconomic impacts.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank Santiago Duarte Aranda for their technical assistance on the FT-IR and thermogravimetrical analysis.

Funding

This work was supported by the fellowship 991055 from the National Council for Humanity Science and Technology (CONAHCYT) of Mexico.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Renewable Energy Unit, Yucatan Center for Scientific Research (CICY), Highway Sierra Papacal-Chuburna Puerto, Km 5, Sierra Papacal, 97302, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico

    Karla J. Azcorra-May, Edgar Olguin-Maciel, Liliana Alzate-Gaviria, Tanit Toledano-Thompson & Raul Tapia-Tussell

  2. Water Research Unit, Yucatan Center for Scientific Research (CICY), Street 8 #39 S.M. 64 Lote 1 Midtown, 77500, Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico

    Rosa Maria Leal-Bautista

  3. Material Unit, Yucatan Center for Scientific Research (CICY), 97205, Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico

    Gonzalo Canche-Escamilla

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  1. Karla J. Azcorra-May
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  2. Edgar Olguin-Maciel
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  3. Rosa Maria Leal-Bautista
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  4. Gonzalo Canche-Escamilla
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Contributions

Karla J. Azcorra-May: methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft preparation and visualization; Edgar Olguin-Maciel: writing—original draft preparation and visualization; Rosa Maria Leal-Bautista: resources, writing—review and editing; Gonzalo Canche-Escamilla: resources, writing—review and editing; Liliana Alzate-Gaviria: writing—review and editing; Tanit Toledano-Thompson: validation; Raul Tapia-Tussell: conceptualization, writing—original draft preparation, visualization, and supervision. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Raul Tapia-Tussell.

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Azcorra-May, K.J., Olguin-Maciel, E., Leal-Bautista, R.M. et al. Sargassum delignification: a first step to mitigate the socio-economic and environmental impacts in the Caribbean through its sustainable exploitation. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-05158-w

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