Seaweeds for a Biobased Society - farming, biorefining and energy production (SEAFARM)

Research Project, 2013 – 2017

The overarching goal of this project is to develop a sustainable system for the use of seaweeds as a renewable resource in a future, biobased Swedish society. The transdisciplinary research approach includes techniques for cultivating seaweeds to be used as raw material in a biorefinery for the production of food, feed, biobased materials and bioenergy. Seaweed farming circumvents several disadvantages related to land-based biomass production, e.g. the need for fertilizers and irrigation, and does not compete for valuable arable land. In addition, seaweeds grow fast and their farming counteracts coastal eutrophication. A holistic approach will be used where utilization of the resource is maximized in each step of the cycle. Seaweeds will be cultivated at the Swedish west coast and methods suitable for preservation and storage will be evaluated. The obtained biomass will subsequently be fractionated in an integrated biorefinery. The different fractions are thoroughly characterized and recovered for production of biochemicals, polymers, and food/feed additives. The residues from the biorefinery are utilized for production of biogas and biofertilizers. In parallel, a general multi-process sustainable assessment method will be developed to analyze the overall sustainability of the system. The multi-disciplinary research team will collaborate closely with a set of state agencies, commercial enterprises and other stakeholders in the different tasks of the project.