Ulvan: A Versatile Platform of Biomaterials from Renewable Resources

Biomass represents an abundant renewable resource for the production of bioenergy and biomaterials and its exploitation could lead to overcome the dependence from petroleum resources. Indeed fossil energy and chemical sources are not unlimited and there is a critical need to turn the current way of life back to a sustainable manner. The conversion of biomasses into high value chemicals, energy and materials is nowadays gaining more and more attention and represents the final goal of the “Industrial Biorefinering”. Indeed Biorefinery aims at the optimum exploitation of biomass resources for the production of materials that eventually might replace the conventional products from fossil/non renewable resources, thus decisively contributing to the development of a sustainable system. The great challenge in which Biorefinering is involved is the possibility of creating high value products from low value biomasses. In this view, the feasibility of using starting materials obtainable from organic waste sources (agricultural, municipal and industrial waste) or having harmful effects on the environment (algae) as feedstock can represent the strategy of election for the production of sustainable materials. To this aim algae could represent a potentially advantageous biomass to be explored since they are very abundant and cheap and very often involved in uncontrolled proliferation processes detrimental for marine and aquatic environments (Barghini et al., 2010, Chiellini et al., 2008, 2009, Fletcher, 1996). Today most of the naturally produced and harvested algal biomass is an unused resource and often is left to decompose on the shore creating waste problems (Morand et al., 2006). The current use of this huge underexploited biomass is mainly limited to food consumption and as bio-fertilizer, but its potentiality as renewable and sustainable feedstock for energy and material production is gaining more and more attention (Demirbas A. & Demirbas M.F., 2011). Indeed microalgae have been considered to be an excellent source for biodiesel production since are characterized by high growth rates and high population densities, ideal for intensive agriculture and may contain huge lipid amounts, needed for fuel production (Christi, 2007). Besides biodiesel, algae can be cultivated and can be used as a feedstock for the production of bioethanol (John et al., 2011). In particular macroalgae (seaweed) can produce huge amount of carbohydrates per year