The national land area of Japan is 380, 000 km², ranking No. 60 in the world. However, the total sum of Japan’s territorial sea and EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) amounts to 4,470,000 km², which is No.6 in the world. In order to take advantage of this vast oceanic area, development of new technology for culturing ocean biomass (sea algae and seaweeds) is rising rapidly. This is considered to be vital for Japan to produce biofuels from these oceanic resources.

On 14 July 2010, Tohoku University announced that they have successfully developed a high efficiency production technology for bioethanol from marine plants, jointly with Tohoku Electric Power Co.,Inc. In this technology, seaweeds such as kelps and gulfweeds etc. are first made into liquid by a special enzyme, and next the liquid is to be fermented by yeast and bacteria for nearly two weeks. According to the report, about 200 ml of bioethanol was obtained from 1 kg of seaweeds by this process.

The Sendai Power Station of Tohoku Electric Power Co.,Inc reported that some 300 ton of seaweeds are sucked into the cooling water intake and are discharged as waste every year. Applying the above-mentioned new technology, the waste seaweeds could be utilized as a marine biomass resource, and the bioethanol thus obtained could be burnt as fuel at the power station.

The reason why seaweeds are attracting attention now is because sea algae and seaweeds can yield biofuels at quite higher rate than conventional plant bio-resources. Soybeans can yield 1,900 ℓ(liter), and palm oil can 5,950 ℓ of biofuel per year on one hectare of land. Algae, however, can yield 98,500 ℓ that is many times as much! In addition some algae can absorb nearly ten times as much CO2 as any land-born plants can.

On 29 July 2010, NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization)presented a list of contractors for “Next Generation Biofuels Technology Development Projects”, looking forward to the introduction of new technology by 2030. Four out of eight research themes are included in “Technology Development for Biofuels Production from Micro Algae”. It seems that seaweeds and algae may solve today’s world energy problems as well as global warming issues in future, with a big possibility.

 

Fig.  Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone
(Source: website of Japan Coast Guard: http://www1.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/JODC/ryokai/ryokai_setsuzoku.html)

 

Fig.  Productivity of Biofuels by Different Plants (Source: “Prospect of Biomass Energy of Sea Algae”, Prof. Shin Watanabe, Tsukuba University)

 

Fig.  Next Generation Biofuels Technology Development Projects by NEDO

 

Source:
1) a press release of Tohoku University: http://www.tohoku.ac.jp/japanese/2010/07/press20100715-01.html
2) a press release of NEDO:
https://app3.infoc.nedo.go.jp/informations/koubo/press/FF/nedopressplace.2009-06-08.5858382467/nedopress.2010-07-26.7742363322/
et al