An economic model for offshore cultivation of macroalgae

Abstract

Algae biomass is considered as a potential non-fossil source of raw materials to produce fuel, feed, chemicals and materials. For this purpose microalgae as well as macroalgae can be used, and in this report we focus on the latter. More than 99% of the world production of aquatic plants is produced in Asia (FAO 2012, Table 1). From the remaining 1% about 4% is cultivated in Europe. Important European countries with commercial seaweed cultivation are Denmark, Ireland and France. Depending on their pigmentation seaweed species are commonly grouped in brown, red and green seaweeds