Seaweed bio-refinery.

Large scale bio-refinery of seaweeds for the production of CO2 neutral chemicals, third generation biofuels and bio-energy.

This project aims to adapt the bio-refinery concept to seaweed. The biochemical composition of seaweed differs significantly from lignocellulosic biomass. Fractionation and chemical transformation processes for lignocellulosic biomass are therefore not directly applicable for seaweeds.

Seaweed cultivation and processing is new to the Netherlands. Although seaweed is cultivated for food and specialty applications in Asia, in general, only one component is obtained from the seaweed, with the remainder treated as a waste stream. The consortium aims to use the entire plant for the production of chemicals and energy. Only seaweeds native to the NorthSea will be considered.

PROJECT AIMS:

• Convert seaweed residues by digestion and pyrolysis. The mineral residues are targeted to be used in fertilizer applications to close the cycle.
• Investigate potential applications for the products of the bio-refinery.
• Determine the mechanism by which seaweed components or products derived thereof can be used as building block for polymers, starting materials for bleach activators, carbohydrate derived chemicals etc.

PROJECT PARTNERS:

• The Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN).
• Wageningen UR-AFSG.
• Wageningen UR-Plant Research International.
• ATO-NH.
• Process Groningen BV.

PROJECT WEBSITE:

FUNDED BY:

Dutch Government funded under the EOS Lange Termijn (LT) programme.

CONTACT DETAILS:

Declan Hanniffy,
Irish Seaweed Research Group,
Ryan Institute,
NUI Galway,
Galway,
Ireland.

Tel: 353 (0)91 493964
declan.hanniffynuigalway.ie

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