Economic and environmental sustainability analysis of seaweed farming: Monetizing carbon offsets of a brown algae cultivation system in Ireland.

Niall Collins, Maneesh Kumar Mediboyina, Mariana Cerca, Charlene Vance, Fionnuala Murphy

Bioresource technology 2022 Feb

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This paper examines the economic and environmental costs of seaweed cultivation (Alaria esculenta) in Ireland and evaluates the potential revenue made on the voluntary carbon offset market (VCOM). The life cycle assessment (LCA) results revealed the cultivation equipment with the polypropylene used for the cultivation lines contributes the highest share of impacts due to their replacement rate. This study suggests long-term employment of farm infrastructure and increased seaweed yield could enhance the environmental sustainability of the system. Moreover, life cycle costing (LCC) indicates the seaweed farm in Ireland is economically feasible over a 20-year lifespan. However, the revenue generated on the VCOM from the seaweed carbon assimilation was minimal, contributing to only 5% of the revenue. This study concludes that further development of the seaweed market with stabilized biomass prices and producing a range of viable products from seaweed biomass will be a major factor in the economic sustainability. Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Niall Collins, Maneesh Kumar Mediboyina, Mariana Cerca, Charlene Vance, Fionnuala Murphy. Economic and environmental sustainability analysis of seaweed farming: Monetizing carbon offsets of a brown algae cultivation system in Ireland. Bioresource technology. 2022 Feb;346:126637