Environment & Energy

Sargassum Sustains Inventors and Innovators
Environmental Stewardship
Sargassum seaweed has the potential to become an invaluable resource, according to a growing body of research at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill.

One of the latest and most successful developments, the organic material has been used to help create a biofuel to power vehicles. Visionary Dr. Legena Henry, a Cave Hill lecturer, has since established a business - Rum and Sargassum Inc. The Barbados-based biofuel company was founded in 2021 and utilises rum distillery wastewater and Sargassum seaweed, among other local waste materials, to produce fuel.

“We’re taking Sargassum seaweed with rum distillery wastewater in specific ratios and adding some kind of inoculum (a source of bacteria) and have it run through a process over time (anaerobic digestion), and at the end of 30 days, we see our gas levels increasing. Different formulae produce different amounts of biomethane per gramme,” the founder and Chief Executive Officer explained. The intention is to harvest the Sargassum before it reaches the shores via a system that uses catamarans equipped with conveyor belts.

“We need to have a sustainable way of collecting Sargassum, and so for us, that’s out in the deep. We’re not using beached Sargassum. We wash and weigh and pretreat it … From the biogas, you can upgrade and inject into generators that will send electricity to the national grid, [a system] Barbados already has, or you can upgrade and drive cars and trucks.”

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