Turning Seaweed into Fabric: How Do We Make It Water-Resistant?

Hey Community!

I'm excited to share that I'm working on a project to create fabric from seaweed! It involves using alginate, a wonderful natural polymer found in seaweed. Right now, I'm in the process of spinning the fibers together, and I've had great success overall! However, there's one challenge I'm facing: unfortunately, the fibers aren't water-resistant. Alginate tends to absorb a lot of water, and some of the other plasticizers I'm using, like PLC and Gelatin, do too. I would love to hear if anyone has suggestions on how to make these biomaterials water-resistant. Maybe there's something we can learn from mushroom leather?

Thanks for any information that you can provide me! I am also wondering if anyone knows about PLA plastics.

All my best!

This sounds interesting - the only use of seaweed in fibres that I've heard of is in SeaCell® which uses a mixture containing regular cellulose from trees.  So, it's a viscose like the variations that use bamboo and other sources of cellulose and must use all sorts of 'nasty' chemicals.
We also have plastic bags that are said to compost - made from corn I think, but the biodegradable factor might be a drawback for your use.

I found a video on making alginate biofabric and it looks interesting. This is made into a sheet like a leather though rather than a fibre - I guess you could use extruders, or I remember making nylon at liquid interfaces...



If it is basically like a seaweed I could see that being a drawback; I believe they can absorb many times their weight in water (which makes dry seaweed dangerous to dogs...). To make it water resistant I would think you'd have to treat the surface somehow. Maybe a drying oil like linseed? Would that be flexible enough when dry?

You know how things float into the mind when thinking of something else?
My thought was a silicone treatment - not a lot of nasties involved in making it, and it can possibly be sprayed on, as can be used for suede shoes.  Any plans to make as a fibre?  Maybe the silicone could be added to the mix before passing through the spinnerets?