Comprehensive Literature Review on Valuable Compounds and Extraction Technologies: The Eastern Baltic Sea Seaweeds

Seaweed valuables have been researched a lot in the last decades but there is a lack of information on brackish seaweed at the eastern part of the Baltic Sea. Previous research shows that Baltic seaweed can be used as a source for phycocolloids as well as for bioenergy. The amount of available usable biomass is not clear, also seaweed in brackish seawater does not reach the dimensions such as the same species in Western parts of the Baltic Sea where the salinity is higher. Therefore, the use of this biomass must be smart to create economic benefit. Three abundant Baltic brackish seaweed species were chosen, to represent green, brown and red seaweed groups and an in-depth information analysis was made to clarify possible focus substances that could be extracted from these species. In this paper we summarize literature of common seaweed components, traditional extraction technology, and potential amount in seaweed and give an overview of novel methods for extraction of seaweed bioactive compounds.