TOKYO – A group of private and academic research institutes is studying the viability of tackling the gargantuan project of building a seaweed plantation in the Pacific Ocean to absorb carbon dioxide and produce biofuel.
The group, which includes the Mitsubishi Research Institute, Tokyo University and Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, is studying the viability of the plantation, which they hope could be vital in the fight against global warming.
In the atmosphere of primordial Earth, the percentage of carbon dioxide was much higher than it is today, and the percentage of oxygen was much lower.
The first living organisms – blue-green algae, green algae and other species of seaweed – converted carbon dioxide into oxygen through internal photosynthesis. As a result, the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere eventually rose to today’s level.
“Petroleum was originally fossilized seaweed and other creatures. Therefore, it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air with the help of seaweed and use the seaweed to produce fuel,” professor Masahiro Notoya of Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology said.
The plan is to place 100 floating fishing nets in the Pacific Ocean, each measuring 10 kilometers by 10 kilometers. Seaweed such as sea grape, which can reach 20 meters in length in a year, will grow from the nets.
If various species of seaweed can be harvested so that at least one of them is growing at any given time throughout the year, each of the nets could produce 270,000 tons of seaweed a year, according to estimates.
Seaweed discharges hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases when it is exposed to extremely heated water vapor. Methanol and other biofuel can be synthesized from the gases.
Because the biofuel is made from carbon hydride, which is created from carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, no extra carbon dioxide is discharged into the atmosphere when the fuel is burned. In this sense the fuel holds a very great advantage over fossil fuels.
Another benefit of the nets is that concentrations of seaweed contain abundant plankton and attract fish looking for spawning grounds. This in turn will increase fishery resources.
“Absorbing carbon dioxide is only a small function the seaweed will serve. By growing seaweed, we can make nature richer,” Notoya said.
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