Environmental assessment of process to valorize Sargassum in the Caribbean

Abstract

Sargassum biomass (SB) represents a current environmental, economic and health problem in the Caribbean. However, there is an opportunity to valorize it in order to minimize its impacts. Also, there is an important limitation, namely, a material of high recalcitrance in its structure, which means that it needs a prior treatment that allows the access of compounds of interest for its later exploitation. It is therefore necessary to know if the proposed treatment is sustainable. The objective of this work is to evaluate a treatment for the valorization of SB by means of a life cycle analysis, with 30 environmental indicators of the Greenscope tool. The results indicate that all indicators had a sustainability score between 90 and 100%, indicating that the process is not polluting and therefore does not represent an environmental risk or a danger to human health. Consequently, the process is deemed sustainable and has the potential to prevent the spread of microorganisms responsible for the generation of greenhouse gases and leachates, which are linked to the issues associated with Sargassum blooms. Furthermore, this is the inaugural study to assess the environmental impact of a treatment for SB in the Caribbean.