While they are cleaner and safer than fossil fuels, bioethanol
production's ever-increasing need of valuable farmland for crops - like
corn and sugarcane - could result to possible food shortages and price
increases.
To answer this dilemma, a group of scientists from various
universities in Israel have been looking at marine macroalgae, or
seaweed. They have found that it can be grown more quickly than
land-based crops and harvested as fuel without sacrificing usable land.
Avigdor Abelson, a professor of Tel Aviv University's Department of
Zoology and the new Renewable Energy Center, says that growing the
macroalgae for bioethanol production can also solve the problem of
eutrophication along the coasts.
Many coastal regions, including the Red Sea in the south of Israel,
have suffered from eutrophication - pollution caused by human waste and
fish farming, which leads to excessive amounts of nutrients and
detrimental algae, ultimately harming endangered coral reefs.
The scientists devised a man-made "ecosystem," called the "Combined
Aquaculture Multi-Use Systems," which takes into account the realities
of the marine environment and human activity.
The excess nutrients from man-made fish feeders, which are considered
pollutants due to its harmful effects to the marine environment, could
be used by filter feeders like oysters, which in turn produce food that
could sustain the growth of more seaweed.
The researchers are now working to increase the carbohydrate and
sugar contents of the seaweed for efficient fermentation into
bioethanol, and they believe that macroalgae will be a major source for
biofuel in the future.
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