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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Efficient extraction of a high molecular weight ulvan from stranded
Ulva sp. biomass: application on the active biomembrane synthesis
Cyrine Ben Amor
1
&Mohamed Amine Jmel
1
&Pascale Chevallier
2
&Diego Mantovani
2
&Issam Smaali
1
Received: 22 December 2020 /Revised: 22 February 2021 /Accepted: 5 March 2021
#Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021
Abstract
With increasing demand for biobased materials, major importance was given to the extraction and application of polysaccharides
issued from renewable biomasses like algae. In this work, we investigate the feasibility of elaborating an active ulvan-based
biomembrane prepared from stranded Ulva sp. biomass. Variations of extraction parameters showed that the optimal yield
(13.8% w/w) was obtained using methanol under Soxhlet extraction for the defatting step and 5% (w/v) of ammonium oxalate
as chelating reagent. The molecular weight (MW) was determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), which showed
variability of MW from 201 to 1841 kDa depending on the extraction procedure. The monosaccharide composition of the
obtained high MW ulvan showed the presence of rhamnose (17.61 ± 0.5%), xylose (9.22 ± 0.56%), and glucuronic acid
(24.86 ± 1.29%). Purity and quality of ulvan were also assessed by FTIR and TGA analyses. The high MW ulvan fraction
was thereafter used for the synthesis of a polyelectrolyte-type ulvan/chitosan biomembrane at low KCl concentration. The
obtained membrane was then characterized using FTIR and XPS analyses, which evidenced that the ulvan sulfur groups were
implicated in the interaction with chitosan chains. Finally, to assess the biological properties of the biomembrane, anticoagulant
behavior was evaluated using APTT assay, and it has been found to significantly increase the blood clotting time in comparison
with controls. This work shows the proof of concept of ulvan conversion to high added value products and, therefore, consol-
idates the implementation of cost-effective biorefinery approaches of green macroalgal biomass.
Keywords Macroalgal biomass .Ulvan .Extraction .Active biomembrane .Anticoagulant
1 Introduction
In the last decade, research on biomass valorization gained
interest. In fact, natural biopolymers exhibit structural diver-
sities and various functionalities, making them attractive for
many application fields. Among these biopolymers, polysac-
charides are of particular interest thanks to their physical, rhe-
ological, and chemical properties, being also recognized for
their potential biological applications. The list of known nat-
ural polysaccharides continues to grow, thanks to new discov-
eries in animal and plant materials. Many recent works have
focused on marine plants because they represent an important
source of complex and original polysaccharides [1]. Among
the promising marine biomasses, green macroalgae represent
an abundant renewable and under-valued biomass with nu-
merous interesting properties [2].
Macroalgae offer several advantages compared to tradi-
tional terrestrial raw materials, notably higher productivity
(biomass produced per unit area), no competition with arable
lands, and lower consumption of freshwater [3,4]. These main
advantages make algal biomass an important starting material
for various industrial applications [5]. Green algae (especially
Ulvales) in fact represent the most important available bio-
mass which proliferates mainly in coastal waters, and are fre-
quently involved in the proliferation of algal blooms in coastal
and lagoon waters in the form of “tides”[6,7]. So far, this
biomass causes environmental problems and has very little
*Issam Smaali
issam.smaali@insat.rnu.tn
1
INSAT, Laboratory of Protein Engineering and Bioactive Molecules,
University of Carthage, BP 676, Centre Urbain Nord,
1080 Tunis, Cedex, Tunisia
2
Laboratory for Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Canada Research
Chair I in Biomaterials and Bioengineering for the Innovation in
Surgery, Department of Min-Met-Materials Engineering, Research
Center of CHU de Quebec, Division of Regenerative Medicine,
University Laval, QC, Quebec G1V 0A6, Canada
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-021-01426-9
/ Published online: 12 March 2021
Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery (2023) 13:3975–3985
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