Esteban Amaro, director of the monitoring network at Meo Sargassum, agreed that fuel is the best product for attention. Processing seaweed into other consumer products is possible, but given the health risks of doing so have not been well studied.
“I believe the purpose of Sargassum is to generate energy because when it breaks down, it releases a lot of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and cadmium,” Amaro said. “So it’s better to produce biofuels or biogas than clothing or shoes, like daily products.”
Potential sources of carbon credit
There is another viable product in the game dealing with Sargassum – Sargapanel,,,,, Building materials developed by researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). These panels use 60 to 70 kg of wet sargassum each, offering several advantages over conventional paneling: the material is about 33% more flexible, has greater resistance to impacts, and is a flame retardant. Furthermore, no chemical additives are used in its production, so it can be recycled: Once the life cycle is over, it can be chopped and reintegrated into the production line.
“With this project, we’re not only contributing to reducing the problem… we’re also making a profit from the carbon credit. Every 5 tons of wet sargassum, a carbon credit is generated, each with a value of between $10 and $30, Miriam Stévez González said, in Unam’s Apply and Appliquiquir and Ippal Technology (CFAT),” said Miriam Stévez González.
Estévez estimates that if 4,000 tons of dry sargassum paneling are processed per year, this will generate an annual profit of between $80,000 and absorb the equivalent of 8,000 tons of CO2. “For comparison, we will evacuate from the circulation of about a thousand cars,” she said.
CFATA scientists have worked with scholars from other UNAM departments to develop several other products, including Sargabox (also a refractory cardboard box) and filters that can be used to remove contaminants from water, including microplastics.
“In the case of Sargapanel, we already have the necessary scientific research and a fully competitive registration and scalable utility model, and we are engaging with companies that are leaders in building materials,” Estévez said.
On February 28, Mara Lezama Espinosa, the governor of the Royal State of Quintana, announced the formation of the Salgasso Center for Integrated Health and Circular Economy, with the aim of bringing large algae from a pollution problem considered as a kind of economic and environmental resource. Sargassum, if processed into a lasting physical product, can lock the carbon it draws from the environment for growth. If it becomes a biofuel, it can avoid some fossil fuel emissions.
The center will primarily promote the use of sargassum to produce biogas and organic fertilizers, an alternative to products that usually lead to the release of greenhouse gases when manufactured and used. The center will then sell carbon credits on the back of reducing these emissions.
