The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) has announced the launch of SeaGas, a £2.78m, three-year project to produce bio-methane from seaweed using anaerobic digestion (AD).
The AD process produces methane through bacterial breakdown in the absence of oxygen. It has traditionally used agricultural and food wastes, as well as crops such as maize and beet. But by using farmed seaweed as a replacement, the project hopes to create a stable and sustainable supply chain, freeing up farmland at the same time.
Alongside the CPI, other partners involved in the project include The Crown Estate, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), Queen’s University Belfast and Newcastle University.
The £2.78m in funding has been awarded as part of the Industrial Biotechnology Catalyst, set up in 2014 to support UK researchers and companies in bringing their biotechnology innovations to market.
”This project brings together a powerful consortium that, for the first time ever, joins up the expertise and facilities needed to develop a methodology and commercial rationale for exploiting the UK’s seabed as a source of sustainable biomass and renewable energy” said Steve Broome, head of business and projects – AD at CPI.
“The idea could have remained stuck on paper – but support from the Catalyst has made this innovative and risky project possible.”
According to the CPI, the SeaGas project will be multi-faceted, exploring AD process development, seaweed growth and storage, economic modelling, and environmental and social impact assessment. Supply chain viability will also be assessed, from access to the seabed for farming, through to biogas injection into the national grid.
The Catalyst’s support for the project is a significant vote of confidence according to Prof Mike Cowling, chief scientist for The Crown Estate, which provided the funding for the initial pilot study.
“It is particularly gratifying to see that the results of the initial pilot study have led to this exciting next stage investigation of the commercial viability of the production of bio-methane from seaweed,” he said in a statement.
Perhaps one aspect of the study could look at other potential advantages of farming seaweed. E.G. How does the seaweeds ability to absorb CO2 and produce oxygen stack up against the production of methane, which is a ‘Greenhouse gas’ and can anyway be produced by more effective processing of human waste products which are already effectively captured to centralised processing plants..
I hope this is more efficient than bio-diesel which isn’t efficient at all. Unlike the use of cane sugar by-products, which turns waste into ethanol. How any litres of fuel would it take to grow/harvest/transport 1 litre equivalent of this seaweed gas? That is the burning question (no-pun intended)