[Bioconversion] Algae binder

[Jeff Davis]

Dear List,



I first learned of algae as a binder when reading "Understanding 
Briquetting" (ISBN: 0-86619-233-6), algae was listed as a combustible binder 
along with starch. I'm using starch for my fireballs. I HOPE that it would be 
possible to grind algae, possible in a disposal to start with, and produce 
fireballs without using starch as a binder.


A snip-it from: "Toward the Commercial Exploitation of Red Algae from 
Senegal's 'Petite Côte'"

Gelatinous substance

When industrially processed, these algae yield a gelatinous substance that is 
used in the food, textile, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries as a 
stabilizing or thickening agent, a fixative, or a binder. Demand for the 
algae is high on the European (French and Danish), American, and Japanese 
markets.

End of snip-it:




A snip-it about kelp:

About 190,000 tonnes of the brown kelp Macrocystis are harvested each year off 
the coasts of California and Mexico for extraction of alginic acid. This is 
used commercially for toothpastes, soaps, ice cream, tinned meats, fabric 
printing, and a host of other applications. It forms a stable viscous gel in 
water, and its primary function in the above applications is as a binder, 
stabilizer, emulsifier, or moulding agent. About 35,000 tonnes of Ascophyllum 
nodosum (Feamainn bhuí in Irish, referring to the yellow colour in summer) is 
harvested each year in Ireland, dried and milled in factories at Kilkerrin, 
Co. Galway and Burtonport, Co. Donegal; and the resulting seaweed meal is 
exported and processed in Scotland for the production of alginic acid. 

End of snip-it:


-- 

Jeff Davis