Full Length Research Paper

Production of mono sugar from acid hydrolysis of seaweed

Sung-Soo Jang¹, Yoshihito Shirai¹, Motoharu Uchida² and Minato Wakisaka¹*

¹Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka, 808-0196, Japan.

²National Research Institute of Fisheries and Environment of Inland Sea Fisheries Research Agency, 2-17-5 Maruishi, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima 739-0452, Japan.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: wakisaka@life.kyutech.ac.jp. Tel: +81 -93 -695- 6066. Fax: +81- 93- 695 -6005.

Accepted 6 December, 2010

   Abstract

The purpose of this work was to optimize the process conditions for the saccharification of macroalgae (seaweed) into mono sugar using the following parameters such as: Amount of biomass, catalyst concentration, temperature and reaction time. The major component of Ulva pertusa (green seaweed), Laminaria japonica (brown seaweed) and Gelidium amansii (red seaweed) is carbohydrate which can be converted into variety of sugars using sulfuric acid with hot-compress treatment. Rhamnose (37.89 wt %) and glucose (16.14 wt %) were extracted from dried U. pertusa, while galactose (49.32 wt %) and glucose (12.62 wt %) were extracted from dried G. amansii. Mannitol (31.53 wt %) was produced from dried L. japonica.

Key words: Marine biomass, seaweed, saccharification, sulfuric acid hydrolysis, mono sugars.