Recent Advances in Seaweed Biorefineries and Assessment of Their Potential for Carbon Capture and Storage

Katherine G. Johnston, Abdelfatah Abomohra, Christopher E. French and Abdelrahman S. Zaky ()
Additional contact information
Katherine G. Johnston: School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FF, UK
Abdelfatah Abomohra: Aquatic Ecophysiology and Phycology, Institute of Plant Science and Microbiology, University of Hamburg, 22609 Hamburg, Germany
Christopher E. French: School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FF, UK
Abdelrahman S. Zaky: School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FF, UK

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-32

Abstract: Seaweeds are among the most important biomass feedstocks for the production of third-generation biofuels. They are also efficient in carbon sequestration during growth and produce a variety of high-value chemicals. Given these characteristics together with the relatively high carbohydrate content, seaweeds have been discussed as an ideal means for CO 2 capture and biofuel production. Though third-generation biofuels have emerged as some of the best alternatives to fossil fuels, there is currently no large-scale production or mainstream use of such liquid fuels due to the many technical challenges and high production costs. The present study describes the concept of coastal marine biorefineries as the most cost-effective and sustainable approach for biofuel production from seaweeds, as well as atmospheric carbon capture and storage (CCS). The suggested refinery system makes use of marine resources, namely seawater, seaweed, and marine microorganisms. Firstly, extensive screening of the current literature was performed to determine which technologies would enable the emergence of such a novel biorefinery system and its merits over conventional refineries. Secondly, the study investigates various scenarios assessing the potential of seaweeds as a means of carbon sequestration. We demonstrate that the removal of 100 Gigatons of excess CO 2 using seaweed farms can be achieved in around 4 months to less than 12 years depending on the area under cultivation and the seaweed species. The total bioethanol that could be generated from the harvested biomass is around 8 trillion litres. In addition, high-value chemicals (HVC) that could potentially be recovered from the process represent a considerable opportunity with multi-billion-dollar commercial value. Overall, coastal marine biorefineries have strong potential for a sustainable green economy and represent a rapid approach to climate change mitigation.

Keywords: macroalgae; seaweeds; yeast; biomass conversion; climate change; circular bioeconomy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13193/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13193/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:17:p:13193-:d:1231455

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().