Seaweed biomass has the potential to become an important raw material for bio-based production. The aim of this study was to screen the overall composition of several seaweed species on the Swedish west coast, including some scarcely studied species, to provide fundamentals for evaluation of biorefining potential and to benchmark with already potentially industrially relevant species and commercially important land-based biomasses. Twenty-two common seaweed species (green, red, brown) were collected and the carbohydrate, ash, protein, water and metal contents were measured. Carbohydrate content varied between 237 and 557 g kg⁻¹ dry weight (dw), making it the largest constituent, on a dry weight basis, of most species in the study. Ash, which is considered unwanted in biorefining, ranged between 118 and 419 g kg⁻¹ dw and was the largest constituent in several seaweeds, which were therefore considered unsuitable for biorefining. Protein content was most abundant in the red seaweeds but was generally low in all species (59–201 g kg⁻¹ dw). High contents of several unwanted metals for processing or human consumption were found (e.g. aluminium, arsenic, copper, chromium and nickel), which need to be considered when utilizing seaweeds for certain applications. Potential targets for further biorefinery development mostly include species already known for their potential (Saccharina latissima, Laminaria digitata and Chondrus crispus) while some, such as Halidrys siliquosa and Dilsea carnosa, have not been previously noted. However, more detailed studies are required to explore biorefinery processes for these seaweeds, as well as how to potentially cultivate them.

海藻生物量有可能成为生物基生产的重要原材料。这项研究的目的是筛选瑞典西海岸几种海藻物种（包括一些鲜有研究的物种）的整体组成，为评估生物精炼潜力提供基础，并以已经具有潜在工业意义的物种和商业上重要的陆基物种为基准生物量。收集了22种常见的海藻种类（绿色，红色，棕色），并测量了碳水化合物，灰分，蛋白质，水和金属的含量。碳水化合物含量在237至557 g kg ^-1之间变化干重（dw），使其成为研究中大多数物种的最大成分（以干重计）。在生物精制中被认为是多余的灰分介于118至419 g kg ^-1 dw之间，并且是几种海藻中的最大成分，因此被认为不适合进行生物精制。红藻中的蛋白质含量最高，但所有物种中的蛋白质含量通常都较低（59–201 g kg ^-1 dw）。发现用于加工或人类消费的几种有害金属（例如铝，砷，铜，铬和镍）的含量很高，在将海藻用于某些应用时需要考虑这些杂质。生物精炼厂进一步发展的潜在目标主要包括以其潜力而闻名的物种（Saccharina latissima，Laminaria digitata和Chondrus crispus），而其中一些例如Halidrys siliquosa和Dilsea carnosa则未曾被注意到。但是，需要更详细的研究来探索这些海藻的生物精炼工艺，以及如何进行潜在的种植。