Seaweed aquaculture, the fastest-growing component of global food production, offers a slate of opportunities to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Seaweed farms release carbon that maybe buried in sediments or exported to the deep sea, therefore acting as a CO2 sink. The crop can also be used, in total or in part, for biofuel production, with a potential CO2 mitigation capacity, in terms of avoided emissions from fossil fuels, of about 1500 tons CO2 km-2 year-1. Seaweed aquaculture can also help reduce the emissions from agriculture, by improving soil quality substituting synthetic fertilizer and, when included in cattle fed, lowering methane emissions from cattle. Seaweed aquaculture contributes to climate change adaptation by damping wave energy and protecting shorelines, and by elevating pH and supplying oxygen to the waters, thereby locally reducing the effects of ocean acidification and de-oxygenation. The scope to expand seaweed aquaculture is, however, limited by the availability of suitable areas and competition for suitable areas with other uses, engineering systems capable of coping with rough conditions offshore and an increasing market demand for seaweed products, among other factors. Despite these limitations, seaweed farming practices can be optimized to maximize climate benefits, which may, if economically compensated, improve the income of seaweed farmers.

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Can seaweed farming play a role in climate change mitigation and adaptation

Composition, properties and challenges of algae biomass for biofuel application: An overview

An algal feedstock or biomass may contain a very high oil fraction, and thus could be used for the production of advanced biofuels via different conversion processes. Its major advantage apart from its large oil fraction is the ability to convert almost all the energy from the feedstock into different varieties of useful products. In the research to displace fossil fuels, algae feedstock has emerged as a suitable candidate not only because of its renewable and sustainable features but also for its economic credibility based on the potential to match up with the global demand for transportation fuels. Cultivating this feedstock is very easy and could be developed with little or even no supervision, with the aid of wastewater not suitable for human consumption while absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. The overall potential for algae applications generally shows that this feedstock is still an untapped resource, and it could be of huge commercial benefits to the global economy at large because algae exist in millions compared to terrestrial plants. Algae applications are evident for everyday consumption via foods products, non-foods products, fuel, and energy. Biofuels derived from algae have no impact on the environment and the food supply unlike biofuels produced from crops. However, any cultivation method employed could control the operating cost and the technicalities involved, which will also influence the production rate and strain. The scope of this paper is to review the current status of algae as a potential feedstock with diverse benefit for the resolution of the global energy demand, and environmental pollution control of GHG.

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Algae biofuel: Current status and future applications

Lignin valorization for the production of renewable chemicals: State-of-the-art review and future prospects.

Ball milling as a mechanochemical technology for fabrication of novel biochar nanomaterials.

Algae is a very promising source for renewable energy production since it can fix the greenhouse gas (CO2) by photosynthesis and does not compete with the production of food Compared to microalgae, researches on biofuel production from macroalgae in both academia and industry are at infancy for economically efficient and technological solutions This review provides up to-date knowledge and information on macroalgae-based biofuels, such as biogas, bioethanol, biodiesel and bio-oils respectively obtained from anaerobic digestion, fermentation, transesterification, liquefaction and pyrolysis technique methods It is concluded that bioethanol and bio-oils from wet macroalgae are more competitive while biodiesel production seems less attractive compared to high lipid content microalgae biomass Finally, a biorefinery concept based on macroalgae is given

Huihui Chen

Papers

Macroalgae for biofuels production: progress and perspectives.

Hydrothermal liquefaction of agricultural and forestry wastes: state-of-the-art review and future prospects

Characterization and utilization of aqueous products from hydrothermal conversion of biomass for bio-oil and hydro-char production: a review

Hydrothermal conversion of sewage sludge: Focusing on the characterization of liquid products and their methane yields

Hydrothermal conversion of dewatered sewage sludge: Focusing on the transformation mechanism and recovery of phosphorus