Sustainable\nExploitation of Posidonia\noceanica Balls through an Integrated Biorefinery Approach

This\nwork proposes the integrated exploitation of fibrous\nballs\nof seagrass Posidonia oceanica (PO),\nwhich annually accumulate along the sandy Mediterranean beaches, causing\nsignificant management and economic problems. Preliminarily, the organic\nextractives of PO balls were removed by ethanol, and their characterization\nhighlighted the presence of biologically active molecules. The successive\nalkaline pretreatment allowed the fractionation of the biomass, leading\nto a solid enriched in polysaccharides and a “black liquor”\ncontaining the extracted lignin. The butanolysis of the solid enriched\nin polysaccharides provided a yield of up to 52.3 mol % of butyl levulinate,\na strategic intermediate, and valuable bioblendstock for diesel. Finally,\npure acid-insoluble lignin and acid-soluble lignin fractions were\nrecovered from the “black liquor”. These were deeply\ncharacterized and proposed as UV-blocker and antioxidant agents.