E!6027 Offshore Cultivation of Seaweed

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The goal in SEAWEED-STAR is to develop a cost efficient and sustainable large-scale offshore seaweed cultivation system, based on the principles of the Seaweed Carrier cultivation concept. The timing of this project is excellent and urgent. The worldwide demand for renewable transport fuel is rising rapidly and strict governmental targets are set to meet the need. Seaweed grows faster than any terrestrial plant, large areas of ocean are available, large scale farming of seaweed is proven (millions of ton s by traditional near-shore methods) and conversion to biogas and ethanol has been proven in the laboratory with reasonable yields. Marine biomass presents no conflict with food supplies, land use changes and demand for fresh water. Seaweed has a great po tential as feedstock for Bio-Fuel production around the world. SES was created to address this challenge. Traditionally, all seaweed cultivation is done using ropes in various combinations. "Why ropes?" Ropes have been around for centuries and it was onl y natural for the first seaweed farmers to use this as the material of choice, to grow seaweed on. For industrial scale offshore cultivation however, it would make more sense to grow seaweeds on large carriers of a specific material, and the Seaweed Carr ier is our proposed solution. The patented Seaweed Carrier is the cornerstone of this project. It represents a step innovation over seaweed cultivation methods that have all been based on ropes. It can be seen as an example of bio-mimicry - the Seaweed C arrier is designed mimicking nature's own approach to ensure survivability in the open ocean, developed over millions of years. The carrier moves in the water as a large seaweed - swinging freely back and forth depending on the strength of the waves and t he currents. It can be moored in deeper more exposed water, has few moving parts, allows for easy deployment and harvesting and there is no risk of mammal entanglement.