US researchers say they have unlocked a way of
producing biofuel from brown seaweed, but a local scientist says it
might not be right for New Zealand.
According to research
published in the latest issue of Science magazine, US scientists have
genetically engineered the E. coli bacteria - the same bacteria found in
human stomachs - to digest the sugars found in brown seaweed and
produce ethanol.
The US researchers are keen on seaweed as a
source of fuel because it does not require land, fertiliser, or fresh
water, and it does not compete with food crops.
They estimate seaweed could produce twice as much bioethanol as the same amount of sugar cane and five times that from corn.
Research
by Auckland University of Technology seaweed expert Lindsey White has
shown an estimated 2000kg of brown seaweed lands each year on each metre
of beach in the Wairarapa.
But he warned against presuming that seaweed could be a never-ending source of biofuel.
There
are questions about whether New Zealand would want to introduce
genetically modified E. coli and there needs to be more research on the
effects of harvesting seaweed from beaches, where it is part of the
ecosystem and crucial in coastal protection.
However, there were many research projects looking at producing biofuel from seaweed.
"It's probably only a question of time before somebody makes a breakthrough," he told NZ Newswire.
Dr
White says there is potential to use the invasive seaweed Undaria
pinnatifida, which was introduced here in the 1980s and has spread
rapidly.
He estimates there are hundreds of thousands of tonnes of
the seaweed here, mostly growing on the lines of commercial mussel
farms, and which is discarded at harvest.
There is also a $400 million market for Undaria as food in Japan, Korea and China, he says.
NZN