Green biopolysaccharides and its utilisation as biodegradable material in diverse fields: a review

About 70 percent of the entire world is covered by seas and oceans thereby maintaining a more diverse ecosystem compared to that of the landmass. Apart from being the key role player in ecological functions, it also plays an important role in the following areas of food security, feeds for livestock, raw materials for medicine, building materials, natural defence against natural calamities and many more. This review mainly focuses on the different types of versatile marine biopolysaccharides and their uses in various sectors, including the food industry, pharmaceutical industry, bioremediation, wastewater treatment, cosmetics, biomedical applications, agriculture and catalysis. The marine biopolysaccharides of focus in this review article are agar, alginate, carrageenan, chitin, chitosan and glycosaminoglycans which includes heparan sulphate, chondroitin sulphate and also marine-based sources of natural bioprotein collagen and its applications. Emphasis is given to the nanomaterials which can be obtained from the above-mentioned marine biopolysaccharides and its application in various fields. Overall, the report covers the important biopolysaccharides obtained from marine resources that are abundant in nature, which can be of more interest shortly. The review article covers the future aspects of applications of marine biopolysaccharides.