Extraction and Characterization of Starch from Microalgae and Comparison with Commercial Corn Starch

Abstract Starch is the main component that consumed one third in the human diet. One-third of starch produced in the world is used in non-food application such as rubbers production and plastic. Plastic produced from starch which called as bio-plastic is biodegradable and helps in reducing the world pollution which non-degradable plastic now endanger the ecosystem either land or water. Microalgal the easy growing and environmental friendly have opened new potential of revolution for starch-based bio-plastic. The small granules of starch produced from microalgae possess an advantage to replace the starch from food-based, as the small granules able to yield a good quality of bio-plastic. In this study, marine microalgae had been studied for its starch content and could reach up to 19% of total starch content. However, in order to ensure the starch produced from marine microalgae is suitable for bio-plastic application, the characteristics of starch had been studied based on the size of starch granules, amylose/amylopectine content, swelling power and solubility and turbidity. These analyses were done with a comparison of corn starch that used widely in the production of bio-plastic. Hence, by determining these crucial characteristics, the application of starch from microalgae could be expended to various sustainable products.