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Researchers of the Kelp Biofuel Project, a collaboration between USC’s Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies and La Cañada-based Marine BioEnergy, are investigating the potential of kelp for large-scale cultivation. Grown at industrial scale, the plant could become a source of food and fuel, providing an eco-friendly alternative to crude oil.
Kelp is already grown for food on a smaller scale in many Asian and some European countries. Some, like Norway, have also started to experiment with kelp-based fuel production.
“The U.S. is actually lagging far behind in seaweed cultivation, for any purpose, even though we certainly have the personnel with expertise, the technology, the resources,” Diane Kim, has a doctorate in biology and is the project’s lead scientist, said.