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‘Kelp elevator’ study shows promise for producing biofuel from giant seaweed
Scientist’s at USC Dornsife’s Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies take the first steps in showing that kelp could provide a more environmentally friendly, sustainable source of fuel.
[3¾ min read time]
March 2, 2021
A diver attaches seaweed to a prototype of a device called the “kelp elevator.” Raising and lowering kelp on the elevator accelerates its growth, proving the potential for mass-produced seaweed to power vehicles with biofuel harvested from the ocean. (Photo: David Ginsburg.)
Biofuels that power cars, jet airplanes, ships and big trucks come primarily from corn and other mass-produced farm crops. But researchers at the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, headquartered at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, have looked to the ocean for what could be an even better biofuel crop: seaweed.
In the struggle to slow the runaway freight train of humanity s destructive impact on Earth, scientists are increasingly looking at the role our oceans can play.
USC study shows promising potential for giant-kelp-based biofuel with depth-cycling approach
Scientists at the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies on Santa Catalina Island, working with private industry, report that a new aquaculture technique on the California coast significantly increases kelp growth, yielding four times more biomass than natural processes.
The researchers used a depth-cycling approach i.e., physically moving the macroalgae between deep nutrient-rich water at night and shallow depths within the photic zone during the day to optimize growth. An open-access paper on their work appears in the journal
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.
This study tested the effects of depth-cycling on the growth, morphology, and chemical composition of the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera, a target species for renewable biomass production. Giant kelp grown under depth-cycling conditions had an average growth rate of 5% per day and produced four times more biomass