When a massive amount of seaweed washed ashore on the Caribbean beaches in 2011, local residents were left bewildered.
Not long after, unsightly sargassum piles from the Sargasso Sea began to cover the coastal areas. Pollution, combined with warmer sea temperatures, led to a dramatic increase in sargassum growth. As the seaweed decomposed, it emitted an extremely unpleasant odor.
Legena Henry from the University of the West Indies (Barbados) added: “Local tourism has suffered significantly due to the seaweed, with hotels spending substantial amounts of money to manage it. Sargassum has created a crisis.”
Sargassum covers a beach. (Photo: El País).
Sargassum not only impacts the tourism sector, but it also poses a threat to human health due to the hydrogen sulfide gas it emits during decomposition. Additionally, many local species are affected by the seaweed on the shore.
Addressing the massive sargassum influx is a challenging problem for small, resource-limited tourist islands. In 2018, then-Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, declared sargassum a national emergency.
However, today, a group of Caribbean scientists and environmentalists are pioneering solutions to this issue by transforming troublesome sargassum into profitable biofuel. They recently launched a vehicle powered by compressed natural gas. The fuel produced at the University of the West Indies in Barbados also uses wastewater from a rum distillery, along with manure from local sheep, which is rich in anaerobic bacteria.
The research team asserts that all types of vehicles can switch to using this biofuel thanks to a simple and cost-effective assembly process that takes about four hours. The estimated total cost is around $2,500.
The researchers initially intended to use sugarcane to create biofuel to help Barbados achieve its zero-emission target. However, project founder Legena Henry noted that although Barbados is still one of the few islands cultivating sugarcane, the quantity appears insufficient to meet the research team’s goals.
Meanwhile, sargassum is never in short supply. One of Henry’s students at the University of the West Indies, Brittney McKenzie, proposed the idea of using sargassum as biofuel.
Brittney was then tasked with collecting sargassum from the beach and setting up a mini bioreactor for initial research. Brittney shared: “In just two weeks, we achieved quite promising results.”
The research team has registered intellectual property for their formula and, in 2019, presented the project to potential investors on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York (USA). Numerous organizations funded their project, including the American nonprofit Blue Chip Foundation with $100,000.
This project exemplifies how Caribbean nations are striving to build their environmental future.
