Dominykas Salvaitis
PhD Candidate
(+47) 406 31 729
dominykas.salvaitis@nibio.no
Place
Bodø
Visiting address
Mørkvedbukta 30, 8020 Bodø
Abstract
Brown seaweed A.nodosum has been widely used for feed and biostimulant purposes for many years. However, due to its high-water content (ranging >80% MC) it presents challenges like increasing costs of transportation and storage for downstream processing. Therefore, an effective dewatering step is essential to reduce the moisture content, concentrate the biomass and improve handling and processing efficiency. Mechanical dewatering is commonly applied as a pretreatment step in biorefining as it removes readily mobile water and reduces the moisture available for microbial deterioration during handling and storage. However, the efficiency of mechanical dewatering can be limited by the strong water-holding capacity of seaweed tissues and cell-wall components, resulting in substantial residual moisture in the pressed biomass. In this context, this study evaluates calcium chloride (CaCl2 ) and magnesium chloride (MgCl2 ) as pretreatment agents prior to hydraulic pressing of A. nodosum, assessing their effects on dewatering efficiency and the partitioning of protein-bound amino acids between the liquid and solid fractions.
Abstract
Mechanical dewatering using a twin-screw press not only reduces biomass moisture content but also facilitates the partitioning of valuable biochemical components between liquid and solid fractions. While mechanical dewatering is commonly applied as a low-energy pre-treatment step, its potential as a fractionation strategy for brown seaweed biorefinery remains largely unexplored. Pressure-driven separation generates a liquid fraction containing soluble compounds and a solid fraction enriched in structural biomass components. In this study, different pre-treatments were combined with twin-screw pressing to evaluate their influence on the distribution of protein-bound amino acids, fucose, and uronic acids in Alaria esculenta. The results demonstrated distinct partitioning patterns, with higher concentrations of all three component groups generally retained in the solid fraction, highlighting the potential of mechanical dewatering as an initial fractionation step in cascading seaweed biorefinery. This approach aims to establish mechanical dewatering as a scalable, low-energy entry point for downstream processing, supporting efficient valorization and zero-waste processing.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered