The world of seaplants is a group of interrelated communities... each has a different focus. At one extreme we have communities with a completely financial interest. At the other extreme there are communities with a purely intellectual or aesthetic interest. Communities tend to revolve around discipline, environmental influences and uses. Most people belong to more than one community of interest (e.g. one discipline, at least one usage area and environmental impacts). Click on the hotlinks below to gain access to community links.
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Biopolymers
Seaplants biopolymers are an important extract from seaplant raw materials. SEAPlant.Net does not pretend to be a biopolymers site. We keep abreast of developments among biopolymer producers and major biopolymer users to the extent that this effects seaplant communities per se. After all, some of these companies are the real big guys when it comes to buying seaplant raw materials. For specialised treatment of biopolymers in commerce we defer to dedicated sites such as Dennis Seisun's IMR International or Cybercolloids or to the sites of biopolymer producers such as: BD Biosciences [Difco] Cambrex Bioproducts CP Kelco Degussa FMC BioPolymer International Specialty Products [ISP Alginates] Marcel Carrageenan TIC Gums Blenders
Still, there is a very fuzzy line between where raw material ends and extract begins. SEAPlant.Net considers that semi-refined products and products subjected to post-harvest upgrading are still Seaplants. We are developing as an information source for this important industry segment as well as lining up trade facilities to help buyers and sellers of these products do business with each other.
Carrageenan and agar bearing seaplants as raw materials for red algal galactans. One of the highest-profile and economically significant uses of several species of red algae is in their role as raw materials for extraction industries that modify, extract and purify the chemical constituents known as red algal galactans (RAGs) that comprise useful seaplant biopolymers.The importance of this Community is well illustrated by these points:
Carrageenan processors have fueled the development of Kappaphycus (cottonii) and Eucheuma (spinosum) farming in several countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Tanzania, Kiribati, Fiji and Madagascar, total market volume now exceeds 140,000 commercially dried tons per annum at a value of over 70 M USD. Primarily wild-harvested genera such as Chondrus, Furcellaria, Gigartina, Iridaea, Mastocarpus and Tichocarpus are also mainly produced as carrageenan raw materials, producing countries include Argentina, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, North Korea, South Korea, Spain, Russia and the USA, production exceeds 25,000 dry tons valued at more than 20 M USD.Most of the world's production of agar-bearing seaweeds goes to production of agar products, major genera involved include Ahnfeltia, Gelidium, Gelidiella and Gracilaria and Pterocladia, producing countries include Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, and the USA, production exceeds 110,000 tons valued at more than 100 M USD.
Brown seaplants as raw materials for alginates and other extracts.One of the highest-profile and economically significant uses of several species of brown algae is in their role as raw materials for extraction industries that modify, extract and purify the chemical constituents known as alginates and also their role as a source of hydrolysates, meals and other products that serve as plant foods and animal feeds.The importance of this Community is illustrated as follows:
Although brown seaweed genera such as Hizikia, Laminaria and Undaria are important human food species, most of the world's ca. million tons of harvested brown seaweeds go to production of biopolymers (alginates) or are processed to make products for agriculture such as animal feed supplements and plant food. Producing countries include Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Chile, France, Iceland, India, Ireland, Japan, North Korea, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, the UK, the USA and Vietnam. If at least 70% of total production goes to further processing then this amounts to about 700,000 tons worth in excess of 140 M USD.
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