Anaerobic digestion and gasification of seaweed

The potential of algal biomass as a source of liquid and gaseous biofuels is a highly topical theme, with over 70 years of sometimes intensive research and considerable financial investment. A wide range of unit operations can be combined to produce algal biofuel, but as yet there is no successful commercial system producing such biofuel. This suggests that there are major technical and engineering difficulties to be resolved before economically viable algal biofuel production can be achieved. Both gasification and anaerobic digestion have been suggested as promising methods for exploiting bioenergy from biomass, and two major projects have been funded in the UK on the gasification and anaerobic digestion of seaweed, MacroBioCrude and SeaGas. This chapter discusses the use of gasification and anaerobic digestion of seaweed for the production of biofuel

High-value products from macroalgae: the potential uses of the invasive brown seaweed, Sargassum muticum

Marine seaweeds represent an abundant source of natural products and may harbour valuable chemicals. The brown seaweed Sargassum muticum is an invasive species to the coasts of the British Isles, mainland Europe and North America. Attempts at its eradication and control have generally not been successful, although time-consuming and costly. Commercial exploration of this biomass for food, fuel and pharmaceutical products could encourage its harvesting and control. Though S. muticum might be unsuitable as a source of biofuel due to high ash and water content, this rapidly growing macroalga has a naturally high content of antioxidants, carotenoids and phenols, including the well-known anti-cancer compound fucoxanthin, making this species a potential source of a range of pharmaceutically relevant material