Biofuels from Macroalgae

Through access to the research base and expertise at SAMS, SRSL provide a consultancy service specialising in the culture/farming of macro-algae for used ranging from anaerobic digestion (for methane) to fermentation (for bioethanol):

• Large brown macroalgae, or kelp, are perhaps the greatest potential source of marine biofuel. They are fast growing and have no internal transport systems for nutrients and water. This saves energy, making them naturally highly productive with a high carbon fixation potential.
• Macroalgal and microalgal biomass can be anaerobically digested (AD) to produce methane and fermented to bioethanol. They lack lignin and have a low cellulose content, which makes them a better material for complete biological degradation to methane than land plants.
• Seaweed cultivation and harvest is now an established process in Scotland. Macroalgal spores are collected from ripe plants then seeded onto polyamide strings. Here the spores germinate to form tiny plants 2mm long, which are transferred to sea after two months then harvested six to eight months later, when they will have attained a length of over two metres.

The €6 million, EU-funded BioMara project (led by SAMS) seeks to optimise methodologies and investigate the practicalities associated with harnessing macro-algal biomass as a biofuel source. This will include developing the most efficient anaerobic digestion (AD) and fermentation processes for algal biomass.