Sargassum, brown algae which regularly washes ashore on Florida beaches, poses health and ecological risks as it decomposes. FIU researchers have been investigating ways to use it productively, rather than just hauling it off to be disposed of. The team used high-pressure processing to refine sargassum into alginate.
Alginate is used to thicken foods like sauces and ice cream. Imran Ahmad says, “Taking that angle, we have a solution for the world: get rid of it from our beaches. Making use of something that is going to be waste anyway, we can still extract something more important that the food industry actually needs.”
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