An eco‐friendly procedure for achieving high‐yield carrageenan from Hypnea cervicornis suitable for wet spinning

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, an eco‐friendly method was proposed to prepare carrageenan suitable for spinning into fibers. The extract from Hypnea cervicornis without alkali pretreatment was directly converted into the spinning solution, and carrageenan fibers were obtained via wet spinning. The improved procedure had a higher yield (61.8% ± 1.1%) than the traditional method (36.0% ± 1.3%). The chemical structure of the carrageenan was analyzed via fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C NMR). It was confirmed that carrageenan extracted from Hypnea cervicornis was mainly ι‐carrageenan and its structure was not changed by alkali pretreatment. The properties of the spinning solution and fibers were characterized using dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), and tensile tests. The results showed that the spinning solution prepared by the improved procedure was homogeneous and suitable for spinning, and the mechanical strength of the novel prepared carrageenan fibers was equal to the fibers spanned from traditional carrageenan.