Biosynthesis of cellulose from Ulva lactuca, manufacture of nanocellulose and its application as antimicrobial polymer

Green nanotechnology has recently been recognized as a more proper and safer tool for medical applications thanks to its natural reductions with low toxicity and avoidance of injurious chemicals. The macroalgal biomass was used for nanocellulose biosynthesis. Algae are abundant in the environment and have a high content of cellulose. In our study, we extracted parent cellulose from Ulva lactuca where consecutive treatments extracted cellulose to obtain an insoluble fraction rich in cellulose. The extracted cellulose has the same results obtained by matching it with reference cellulose, especially the same Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis peaks. Nanocellulose was synthesized from extracted cellulose with hydrolysis by sulfuric acid. Nanocellulose was examined by Scanning electron microscope (SEM) shown by a slab-like region as Fig. 4a and Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) to examine the chemical composition. The size of nanocellulose in the range of 50 nm is calculated by XRD analysis. Antibacterial examination of nanocellulose was tested against Gram+ bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC6538), Klebsiella pneumonia (ST627), and Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli (ATCC25922), and coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) to give 4.06, 4.66, 4.93 and 4.43 cm as respectively. Comparing the antibacterial effect of nanocellulose with some antibiotics and estimating minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of nanocellulose. We tested the influence of cellulose and nanocellulose on some fungi such as Aspergillus flavus, Candida albicans, and Candida tropicalis. These results demonstrate that nanocellulose could be developed as an excellent solution to these challenges, making nanocellulose extracted from natural algae a very important medical material that is compatible with sustainable development.