Nunes, N.1,2, Ferraz, S.1, Valente, S.1, Portillo, E.3, Pinheiro de Carvalho, M.A.A.1,2,4
1ISOPlexis – Centre of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Technology, Madeira University. Campus da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
2Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
3Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias, Playa de Pozo Izquierdo s/n, 35119 Santa Lucía, Spain
4Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Madeira, Campus da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
Seaweed beach-casts are unattached macroalgae which could disturb several activities on the coastline. We hypothesize that it could be used as a source of raw material for biocompounds purification. Other uses for this biomass include obtaining liquid extracts and dried biomass for crop fertilization and biofortification. In this work, nineteen samples from Playa de Las Canteras, Gran Canaria, were assessed, comprising November 2016 and May 2019. Several parameters were assessed including moisture content (4.81 – 10.86 g.100g-1 dw), protein (3.98 – 9.56 g.100g-1 dw), lipids (2.19 – 6.77 g.100g-1 dw), total phenolic content (0.01 – 0.99 mg GAE.100g-1 dw), Chlorophyll a (23 – 66 mg.100g-1 dw) and b (5 – 15 mg.100g-1 dw), total carotenoids (4 – 34 mg.100g-1 dw) and fucoxanthin (2 – 35 mg.100g-1 dw). Regarding the mineral content (36.30 – 75.88 g.100g-1 dw), calcium (5.12 –30.52 g.100g-1 dw), magnesium (1.07 – 2.45 g.100g-1 dw), potassium (0.73 – 4.68 g.100g-1 dw), phosphorus (0.07 – 0.12 g.100g-1 dw), iron (306 – 555 mg.100g-1 dw), iodine (17.66 – 59.81 mg.100g-1 dw), boron (12.4 – 35.6 mg.100g-1 dw) and manganese (8.5 – 31 mg.100g-1 dw) were analysed. Heavier elements included chromium (1.05 – 3.91 mg.100g-1 dw), zinc (1.0 – 4.9 mg.100g-1 dw), nickel (0.26 – 1.94 mg.100g-1 dw), copper (0.17 – 0.37 mg.100g-1 dw), cadmium (0.02 – 0.11 mg.100g-1 dw), lead (0.01 –0.21 mg.100g-1 dw) and mercury (0.32 – 1.16 µg.100g-1 dw). Targeting key fluctuation periods of heavier elements and biochemical compounds, could be useful to develop a safer and economical feasible industry. Associating biorefinery strategic plans for multi-compound extraction, could also increase the economic and environmental benefits.