PLA nanocomposites from Posidonia oceanica waste

The need to both avoid wastes and find new renewable resources has led to a new and promising research based on the possibility to revalorize the biomass. Different extraction methods were optimized for the extraction of lignocellulosic components from these natural sources, and most of these techniques have actually been adapted to raw materials from agricultural, forest, and marine wastes. In this context, Posidonia oceanica, a Mediterranean marine plant, appears a novel potential material to be revalorized, and some recent studies have focused on its potential use as a source of fillers in polymeric-based films.This chapter reports the most relevant results about the use of fibers and nanostructured materials extracted from P. oceanica waste as reinforcement phases in biodegradable polymers with a special attention on poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-based formulations with potential application at an industrial level.