[6-1130-P] Postharvest/Food Technology and Process Engineering (6th)

[6-1130-P-27] The Potential of Biogas Production from Caribbean Seaweed Biomass

*Yuhendra AP¹, Mohamed Farghali¹, Takaki Yamashiro², Ryuichi Sakai³, Kazutaka Umetsu¹ (1. Graduate School of Animal and Food Hygiene, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine(Japan), 2. Tokachi Agri Works(Japan), 3. Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University(Japan))

Keywords:Saint Lucia, Seaweed, Sargassum Fulvellum, Anaerobic digestion, Biogas

Sea tourism in Saint Lucia, which is a Caribbean country, represents 65% of its income. However, the seaweed invasion of this Caribbean country caused a brown seaweed blooming and proposed to markedly reduce the income of this country. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the potential of biogas production form the Sargassum fulvellum, which is one of the most common invaded seaweeds in this country. Sargassum fulvellum seaweeds were used as a substrate for mesophilic (38 ^oC) batch anaerobic digestion experiments. The result showed that the chemical characteristics of the dried Sargassum fulvellum were 46.11% (Volatile Solid (VS)), 81.19 (Total Solid (TS)), and 35.05% (ash). Additionally, the biogas and methane yields were 154.3 mL/gVS and 115.8% mL/gVS, respectively. In conclusion, the utilization of seaweed biomass in the anaerobic digestion process not only ensures the beach and sea look better to make tourism flourish, but also enhances the income from the biogas production.