Denny Hadiwinata (Faculty of Engineering, University of Mercu Buana); Address: Jl. Meruya Selatan No.1 , Kembangan, Jakarta Barat, Indonesia; Email: [email protected]

Abstract

As our energy demand increases over the years, research for better dedicated energy crops (biomass) has been pushed to the limit. New biomass must be more efficient in terms of size of plantation with energy being produced in order to minimize the impacts of environment. Over the years, there have been interests in cultivating, growing and using seaweed (algae) as new biomass source to produce renewable energy. This is because seaweed can yield a high energy contents (calorific) and they can grow relatively faster compared to other biomass sources. This work will focus on discussing seaweed to produce bio-methane.

Seaweed has been estimated to produce more energy per hectare in a year. In comparison with other biomass feedstock, seaweed can save more land area to be utilized for energy production by not competing with food crops. Cultivation of seaweed can save land area about 50-70% due to its high growth rate. This percentage is enough to meet energy demand increase of 8-10% per year, at least for the next 5 years.

Keywords: Seaweed, Algae, Bio-methane, Biogas, Anaerobic Digestion

PDF