Algal Biomass as a Source of Bioactive Compounds for Biotechnological Applications

Abstract

Algae are a source of biomass for obtaining bioactive compounds such as antioxidants and sulfated polysaccharides, which have beneficial properties for different biotechnological applications, such as nanomaterials synthesis. By means of a 23 factorial design, the present study determined the pH, temperature and concentration of the biomass (%) conditions for obtaining Sargassum sp. extracts for further application in the synthesis of nanomaterials; the response variables were the antioxidant capacity, concentration of carbohydrates, organic and inorganic sulfates. The results of the experimental design showed that the biomass concentration factor was the most important to explain the response variables except for the antioxidant capacity response, where the factor that explains the highest percentage of the response was the temperature. The condition that allowed obtaining the maximum concentration of antioxidant power and esterified sulfates was found to be using 90°C, pH of 4.5 and 11% of the biomass concentration, resulting in a concentration of 6.1 ± 0.2 mM/L of FRAP and 0.4 ± 0.09 mg/mL organic sulfates.