Using algae to make paper

W.K. Anushka Induwara Kulasooriya

Eco Astronomy Sri Lanka

13/04/2024

Introduction
Algae, one of the first appeared living things in this planet are a very fast growing plant. Like
many other plants, algae have a cell wall made out of cellulose. ,but no lignin. Algae are the
producer of food in aquatic environments. Most aquatic creatures depend on algae because
it is there primary food source. Not only that, algae is the plant that gives the biggest part of
atmospheric Oxygen (Diatoms).Because of their skill of reproducing, they can grow
anywhere in the world and adapt for many ecosystems. Algae are the first ancestor of all
plants. It is the second living being, which could make food from “Photosynthesis”. The first
one is “Cyanobacteria”. Scientists have estimated that there could be 30,000 to 1 million
species of algae. There are so many types of algae like red algae, brown algae, green algae
and diatoms. And also there are other categories like single-celled algae, colonized algae,
and filamentous algae. ’Chlorella’ is an example for single-celled algae, ‘Pediastrum’ is an
example for colonized algae and ‘Spirogyra’ is an example for filamentous algae. Most
species of algae are in the green algae (single celled plants in the genus Chlorella are
examples for this) type and they are the primordial algae in plant kingdom (green algae can
be divide to another two groups; we call them as ‘Chlorophyta’ and ‘Carophyta’). Algae
could be also dividing as freshwater algae and saltwater algaes. ‘Chlorella’, ‘Pediastrum’,
‘Spirogyra’ are the examples for fresh water algae and ‘Dunaliella’, ‘Chaetamorpha’, ‘Ulva’
are the examples for salt water algae. Algae are used for many things. As a biofuel, to make
medicines and food, as a Carbon dioxide absorber, as carbohydrate polymers and for
making paper. Actually, we make paper using red algae nowadays. Algae are not like other
plants. Some of the algae act like animals. And as primary plants, algae can do asexual
reproduction. Single celled algae like ‘Clamidomanas’ and ‘Euglina’ can divide into two cells
to reproduce and so on. So in this article, let’s talk about preparation of paper using fresh
water algae. An easy, cheap, eco-friendly alternative for wood. If it is possible to turn algae
into paper, a huge amount if trees won’t be cut off, the Carbon Dioxide emission will be
decrease and the price of paper will be super cheap. Algae are a good alternative for wood
because it is super easy to grow. Algae only need sunlight, water, and necessary nutrition.
So if it is possible to make paper from algae, it’ll be a huge success. But, there lies a
problem. Since algae cells have no lignin, paper made out of them won’t be strong and they
won’t be in a super good quality. But since we use red algae for making paper for printing
industry it isn’t impossible. It can be used fresh water algae for making wrapping papers and
paper bags. And also it can be used to make an edible paper. Because it’s made out of algae.

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Algae paper preparation, uses, benefits

and problems
Preparation
To make algae paper we have to follow general steps. They are,

 Cleaning
 Softening
 Bleaching
 Blending
 Dissolving in a fluid
 Filtering the paper pulp
 Drying
Cleaning

First we should take algae and wash it several times to remove all the unnecessary things.
There could be no leaves or any other aquatic things (snails, sand, leaves).

Softening

Because of the rough fibres of algae, it’s hard to blend it and bleach it, so we have to make it
soft. We can use diluted sulphuric acid for this.

Bleaching

After softening, we should remove the green and brown colours from algae. Boiling in pure
isopropyl alcohol will do this. And you can get a bunch of white algae fibres.

Blending

After softening and blending, we should make an algae pulp. For that, we have to blend
algae until it becomes a thick white pulp.

Dissolving in a fluid

To make the paper we have to dissolve algae fibers in a fluid and filter the to make a pulp
sheet that has a same thick to everywhere.

Filtering the paper pulp

To make the paper, we should filter the pulp dissolved water through a filter like a flour
sieve. And you get a nice, thick paper pulp.

Drying

After filtering we should dry it slowly. For that we can use sunlight or a dehydrator.After
drying, it can be shaped, packed, and used.
Uses
Algae paper can be used in many industries. It can be used as a laboratory filter paper, an
edible wrapping paper, as a filtering paper for printing machines, as tissue papers, and also
to make cardboard. Now here are the explanations for above topics.

Using as a laboratory filter paper

Usually laboratory filter papers are made from high quality cellulose fibers which are taken
by wood pulp or cotton. Instead of that, It may be possible to make filter papers using Algae.
By a right and somewhat complicated process, we will be able to make them. Because algae
paper is also semi-permeable as filter papers.

As tissue papers

Tissue papers are used in everywhere. It is a single-used paper type and disposable. But the
problem is to make tissue papers it is known to use a huge amount of wood and cotton. It
isn’t a very good thing because tissue papers aren’t usually recyclable as normal papers. But
using algae paper, it may be possible to make much cheaper and recyclable tissue papers in
the same quality.

A filtering paper for printers

Usually printers use filtering papers. This may be not the same for all printers, but many
printers like Duplo printers use them. They are also made out of cellulose fibers. So it won’t
be hard to use algae paper for that since we use red algae paper for such works. If it
succeeds, the filtering paper will be much cheaper and easy to use.

To make cardboard
Cardboard is used in many fields. It is used as a packing metarial for most of the time. To
make cardboard, it is known to use recycled paper and wood pulp. So if we could use algae
for an alternative for wood, it would be eco-friendly. But, maybe this won’t be succeeded.
Because algae paper is not strong as normal paper, because algae has no lignin in the cell
wall. So if we use algae it should be mixed with wood pulp in a ratio.

Benefits of using algae paper

Algae is a fast growing plant than trees and it’s much easier and cheaper to grow. And algae
can be grow anywhere in the world giving some water, sunlight and nutrients. So if it is
possible to use algae to make paper instead of wood, it will be a huge success as mentioned
above. First, the price of paper will be decrease. To grow algae, it doesn’t cost a lot of
money and the process of making paper is much simpler than making paper from wood.
Then using algae paper will be eco-friendly. Nowadays, to make paper we have to cut down
a huge amount of trees. And because of that so many problems have appeared. Global
warming, decreasing the bio-diversity, natural disasters and etc. So using algae paper, we
can save trees for the good of everyone. Since algae is easy to grow and it is growing fast,
there won’t be a big different. Since algae paper made out of algae we can use it to make
edible paper that will be a nutritional and eco-friendly product. After using we can use these
papers to make organic fertilizers because these papers are highly bio-degradable. And also
we can use these papers to make bio gas after using. So it looks like there are so many
benefits in using algae paper. But, all of these are still in the hypothesis stage, so consider
that when you get these information.

Problems and weaknesses of algae paper

Everything has problems and weaknesses. If we consider algae paper, there also are some
problems. In the cell wall of algae, there is only cellulose but no lignin, so the paper isn’t
strong enough . In normal paper, there is lignin since we use wood to make them. So in the
preparation of algae paper, we have to find a way to make algae paper stronger like normal
paper which has lignin in it.

The next problem is that algae paper is highly bio degradable. This could be good in one
side, but normally it’s a trouble. So we have to find a process that makes algae paper is a
long lasting product.

Next up we have another big problem. If we make this paper as edible, there is a possibility
that it may carry diseases. Because it’s made from a plant growing in water. So if we really
need to make edible algae paper, we have to sterilize it and make this paper in a very high
tech permissioned factory.

These are the main questions we have. But these could be change or wrong. Consider that
very well.

Conclusion
Finally, it seems like using algae paper gives us more benefits than using normal paper. It
helps to save environment and money. And if we use algae to make paper, the process will
be simpler. Algae are super easy to grow and it is growing really fast. So unlike trees, we
won’t be run out of materials. Using algae we can make edible and sometimes nutritional
products. And also since algae have a somewhat simple genome, we can genetically modify
it to be more suitable for our paper. And if we couldn’t make high quality paper only using
fresh water algae, we can mix them and red algae (since we are using red algae to make
paper for printers) in a suitable ratio. But of course, there are some problems as the above
paragraph describes, but we can find solutions for that. We can genetically modify algae to
be stronger and we can use some chemical reactions to prevent alga from degrading in a
short time, and also we sterilize algae before using it to make our paper and we can give the
authority to only few government linked companies to make this paper. The most important
benefit in algae paper is that it saves the environment. With the arrival of alga paper, the
trees will be protected. We won’t need use wood pulp to make our paper products. The
forests will be saved and the world will be a better place. So in conclusion we can say using
algae paper will be an extremely good thing. It is true that we have to find some solutions,
but humanity has conquered so many other tasks, so since we really want to stop climate
change, global warming and the rising of sea level, this will be a very good solution.

Reference’s
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[2] ආර්.පී. සමරසිංහ(2012), ශාක ලෝකයේ විසිතුරු

[3] විජයතුංග, හරිශ්චන්ද්‍ර(2014), මිරිදිය ජීවීහු

[4] Piyali Mukherjee (a) and Jai Prakash Keshri (b), (2018), Present Status and Development
of Algal Pulp for Hand-Made Paper Making Technology: A Review

[5] Seo, Yung-Bum (Dept. of Forest Products, Chungnam Univ.) ;Lee, Youn-Woo (Dept.
of Forest Products, Chungnam Univ.) ;Lee, Chun-Han (Dept. of Forest Products,
Chungnam Univ.) ;You, Hack-Chul (Dept. of Forest Products, Chungnam Univ.) ;Boo,
Sung-Min (Dept. of Forest Products, Chungnam Univ.), (2006.06.06), Red Algae
Pulp and Its Use in Papermaking

[6] María M. López1, Ana Moral1*, Roberto Aguado2, Mª Lourdes Campaña1 and Antonio
Tijero2, EVALUATION OF BLOOM ALGAE AS RAW MATERIAL FOR PAPERMAKING