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1.2. ALGINATES
1.2.1.
Introduction
In this course emphasis is placed on alginates, for several reasons:
•
Their industrial importance
•
Hot topic – more than 1000 research articles and hundreds of patent
applications annually
•
National molecule of Norway – lots of research at NTNU (NOBIPOL)
•
Alginates beautifully illustrate both nomenclature and fundamental
chemistry of carbohydrates in general
•
One of the most studied polysaccharide families – reference materials
for comparing to other systems
1.2.2. General
Alginates do not refer to a single type of polysaccharide only, but comprise in
fact a
family
of polysaccharides found in brown algae and a few bacteria.
Brown seaweeds are the source of commercial alginates. Some important
species include:
Laminaria hyperborea
3
:
This is the main
raw material in Norway. It is harvested
mainly along the west coast. Stipe and leaf
are often separated and processed
independently
.
Laminaria digitata
4
,
Saccharina japonica
5
(China, Japan) and
Lessonia sp
. (Chile)
are other sources of industrial alginate.
The total annual production of alginate worldwide is approximately 30.000
tons. In Norway the company FMC Biopolymer AS produces about 6.000 tons
each year.
3 No: Stortare
4 No: Fingertare
5 Previously: Laminaria japonica
Figure 1.
L. hyperborea
(at low
tide)