Seaweed is increasingly in demand for food, medicine, animal feed, biofuels, fertilizers and bioplastics. Global sales are about $6 billion annually. However, most seaweed handling is done manually or with equipment designed for other purposes, resulting in time-consuming operations, Andreas Myskja Lien, a research scientist at SINTEF, tells Ship Technology. “This is a challenge cultivators are facing, considering ambitions for expansion and industrialization.”
The vessel under development needs to be equipped for the transport and sowing of seaweed seedlings and the preservation of the fully-grown plants during harvesting and transport. “The on-board systems of the vessel are dependent on the end product. For example, using it for alginate extraction it might be shredded and silaged straight away. Several solutions will be investigated, and the project might result in several specialized concepts,” says Myskja Lien.
The Research Council of Norway is providing $2 million to the project.