Sol-Gel and Gel-Sol Transitions of Biodegradable Chlorella-k-Carrageenan Composites: Photon Transmission Study

Abstract

Microalgae can be used in the packaging sector due to their ability to synthesize bioactive compounds that are favorable in the production of biodegradable packaging. In this work, to create an alternative to plastic packaging, we studied microalgae Chlorella in the presence of k-Carrageenan to form biodegradable packaging using various approaches such as gel formation, film creation, and photometric analyses. Here we have measured Gel-Sol and Sol-Gel energies by employing Arrhenius Law on photon transmission curves, produced during these hysteresis-type phase transitions. The combination of Chlorella, k-Carrageenan, NaCl, and water could form a gel that had a high biodegradation rate with no photodegradation obtained from the experiments. At the same time, our findings indicated that the material obtained from these processes could be a considerable option that degrades much faster than plastic.