SeaGas : Production of bio-methane from seaweed by Anaerobic Digestion (AD)
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Sch of Biological Sciences
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Planned Impact
The rapid growth of AD at ~35% pa since 2012, from 78 to 145 plants in 2014, with 342 in development is due to: (i) Agriculture, food processing and waste management who face increasing costs for energy and waste disposal at £80/te to landfill as well as increasing landfill restrictions in food and biowaste disposal; (ii) Feed in Tariffs (FIT) and Renewable Heat Incentives (RHI) which apply to AD CHP plants of <5MWe. At 20%pa, by 2020 the UK could have >500 AD plants and by 2025 >1000 AD plants. AD currently uses land biomass such as cereals, grass silages or food crops to supplement varying levels of waste streams causing a negative impact on land for food vs fuel and concerns over GHG emissions. While AD has the potential to meet 10% of UK energy demand by 2020 (ADBA 2014), alternative sustainable feedstocks are essential. Seaweed does not compete with food for land or require fresh water. It is fast growing, captures CO2 more efficiently than land plants and is a bio-remediator. It has carbohydrate (CHO) /gross calorific value (GCV) 11-15MJ/kg comparable with cereals (13-19/MJ/kg). Seaweed can replace grass silage in AD combined with food waste to produce the same gas yield 10.4m3 CH4/t.
Utilising all waste streams, the UK AD industry could generate 40.4TWh of biogas, or >10% of demand and be worth £2-3Bn by 2020. AD process knowledge and economics will inform plant design to maximise returns from FIT and RHI. TCE and the steering panel will identify early adopters by M18, in East Anglia and Scotland to build pilot AD plants in the 20ml coastal strip, near waste streams, within 6M of project completion. This will minimise transport costs and GHG emissions and benefit from closed loop energy integration. AD plants can be funded by loans from eg Green Investment Bank, (~£3Bn), Enterprise Finance Scheme(~£2Bn). Small AD plants generating <500kWe, with seaweed at £300/t dwt can return £700k-£1Mpa with build costs of £2M-£3M and ROI <4 yrs, including £5/t for digestate as fertiliser but excluding savings in waste disposal. Larger AD plants generating 2MWe, with seaweed at £150/tdwt can return £2Mpa with build costs of £3M to provide ROI in < 2yrs. Operation of 50 such plants using 2.5Mt seaweed by 2025, with growth of 20% pa to 2030 is feasible. This will require a multi-harvest, high yield, (200t/ha) seaweed farming system (Benchmark Holdings). TCE manage min ~6.6Mha coastal seabed, equivalent to the UK area of arable land, and will licence this to generate Treasury revenue, promote economic growth, job creation and further exploitation of seaweed based on the supply chain economics and the storage system. 2% (132,000ha, 1,320km2) of the coastal seabed producing 200t/ha seaweed would supply up to 26Mt seaweed value ~£390M for AD. To generate the same energy in AD with maize, instead of seaweed (at 22m3 CH4/t), would use 12% UK arable land. TCE will support supply chain development by leasing land for storage, NSMC and Norfolk Council will promote seaweed for biofuel production, CEFAS will lead on marine management. Further exploitation of seaweed in fermentation and energy generation by gasification will be economically enabled and the partners will apply the expertise and knowledge in other IB processes.
Utilising all waste streams, the UK AD industry could generate 40.4TWh of biogas, or >10% of demand and be worth £2-3Bn by 2020. AD process knowledge and economics will inform plant design to maximise returns from FIT and RHI. TCE and the steering panel will identify early adopters by M18, in East Anglia and Scotland to build pilot AD plants in the 20ml coastal strip, near waste streams, within 6M of project completion. This will minimise transport costs and GHG emissions and benefit from closed loop energy integration. AD plants can be funded by loans from eg Green Investment Bank, (~£3Bn), Enterprise Finance Scheme(~£2Bn). Small AD plants generating <500kWe, with seaweed at £300/t dwt can return £700k-£1Mpa with build costs of £2M-£3M and ROI <4 yrs, including £5/t for digestate as fertiliser but excluding savings in waste disposal. Larger AD plants generating 2MWe, with seaweed at £150/tdwt can return £2Mpa with build costs of £3M to provide ROI in < 2yrs. Operation of 50 such plants using 2.5Mt seaweed by 2025, with growth of 20% pa to 2030 is feasible. This will require a multi-harvest, high yield, (200t/ha) seaweed farming system (Benchmark Holdings). TCE manage min ~6.6Mha coastal seabed, equivalent to the UK area of arable land, and will licence this to generate Treasury revenue, promote economic growth, job creation and further exploitation of seaweed based on the supply chain economics and the storage system. 2% (132,000ha, 1,320km2) of the coastal seabed producing 200t/ha seaweed would supply up to 26Mt seaweed value ~£390M for AD. To generate the same energy in AD with maize, instead of seaweed (at 22m3 CH4/t), would use 12% UK arable land. TCE will support supply chain development by leasing land for storage, NSMC and Norfolk Council will promote seaweed for biofuel production, CEFAS will lead on marine management. Further exploitation of seaweed in fermentation and energy generation by gasification will be economically enabled and the partners will apply the expertise and knowledge in other IB processes.
Organisations
- Queen's University Belfast (Lead Research Organisation)
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Co-funder)
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Collaboration)
- Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) (Collaboration)
- CROWN ESTATE (Collaboration)
- Newcastle University (Collaboration)
- Scottish Association for Marine Science (Collaboration)
- SeaGrown (Collaboration)
- BELFAST HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE TRUST (Collaboration)
Publications
Aldridge J
(2021)
Modelling effects of seaweed aquaculture on phytoplankton and mussel production. Application to Strangford Lough (Northern Ireland)
in Aquaculture
Demel S
(2020)
Trading off visual disamenity for renewable energy: Willingness to pay for seaweed farming for energy production
in Ecological Economics
Mariel P
(2021)
Modelling welfare estimates in discrete choice experiments for seaweed-based renewable energy.
in PloS one
Mooney KM
(2018)
Hierarchical structuring of genetic variation at differing geographic scales in the cultivated sugar kelp Saccharina latissima.
in Marine environmental research
Van Der Molen J
(2018)
Modelling potential production of macroalgae farms in UK and Dutch coastal waters
in Biogeosciences
Wood D
(2017)
UK macroalgae aquaculture: What are the key environmental and licensing considerations?
in Marine Policy
| Description | Strangford lough is a good place for growing seaweed at a commercial scale. The environmental impacts of growing seaweed are negligible in our site. It might be difficult to generalize the findings to other sites different to Strangford Lough though. In the second year of the programme we were able to grow 20 tons of seaweed for energy production. The costs involved in seeding, farming, harvesting the seaweed and transporting the seaweed to a facility to generate renewable energy are substantial. It would be recommended to reduce transport costs by having a facility to generate energy from seaweed close to the seaweed farm. Society's preferences for seaweed farming are positive, as this could provide be a good opportunity to generate green electricity in the future. The costs of growing seaweed per unit of energy produced would decrease with larger farms. Difficulties in growing seaweed relate to weather uncertainties, risks of pests affecting the growth of seaweed in hatcheries. Other important aspects to consider is how to inform other users of the lough about the presence of long lines where the seaweed is growing to reduce the risk of other users of the lough to damage the long lines, and their boats. This is the first study of people's willingness to pay for the use of seaweed as a source of biogas. This environmentally-friendly programme does not compete for land, a common problem for land biomass sites, and therefore, could offer a sustainable solution for increasing energy demand. However, the cost of implementing this type of energy project may be high at first. We find that in Scotland, at a price of about £15 per year per household, people would be indifferent between supporting a programme that powers 130,000 households with renewable energy and requires the use of 30% of the coastline, and a programme that powers 85,000 households requiring the use of 20% of the coastline. In other words, we find that people are willing to accept that a larger area of the coast needs to be used if more households can be powered by renewable energy from seaweed. |
| Exploitation Route | Future research should consider the optimal size of a seaweed farm in order for the seaweed production to be economically viable. This has to be thoroughly considered in conjunctiun with the location of the seaweed, and the location of the anaerobic digestion plant to reduce transport costs The seasonality of the work is an important factor to consider too, as highly skilled researchers / technicians are due to grow, deploy and harvest the seaweed. Future research should explore the possibility to harvest the seaweed twice a year, to increase productivity, and to explore the difference in productivity not only between different strains of kelp, but also between harvesting all the seaweed and cutting them to leave some part in the water to facilitate the re-growth. Future studies should look at the costs of expanding seaweed farms off shore, rather than along the coast as the public showed a strong preference for supporting renewable energy from seaweed, but prefers to protect the use of the coast from growing seaweed. That is, people are willing to make a trade-off between the visual disamenity caused by the seaweed farms and producing more green energy. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Energy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| URL | http://seagas.co.uk/ |
| Description | The research has entered the final year of the project. In the first year we harvested about 10 tons of kelp in Strangford Lough. We then posted the kelp to CPI in England. An environmental assessment of growing seaweed in Strangford Lough has been completed. The data we had collected showed that the activity of growing seaweed does not causes significant environmental damage. We are also evaluated the economic and social impacts of the activity. The results of this work has been published in Ecological Economics. In the second year we harvested 20 tons of seaweed, therefore stepping up considerably the amount of seaweed harvested. The second year harvest has been within the expectations of the project. The new harvest has allowed us to conduct more tests on the energy content of seaweed with the other partner organizations. During the third year we have focused on the analysis of the samples collected, and the analysis of the data. During the third year, no seaweed deployment has taken place, rather we focused on the writing up of the results. We reviewed the legal context, including environmental and social aspects, for the setting up of a seaweed farm in the UK. The results of this work have been published in Marine Policy. A second paper was published in Biogeosciences using a 3-D numerical model of hydrodynamics and biogeochemistry to investigate potential production and environmental effects of macroalgae farming in UK and Dutch coastal waters. The findings from the Ecological Economics paper highlight that society is willing to support the use of seaweed as a source of renewable energy. They are willing to accept that large parts of the coast have to be used to grow seaweed to obtain renewable energy. The majority of people prefer that, to produce more seaweed, seaweed farms be extended offshore rather than along the coast to reduce the visual intrusion from land. The study found that the cost of growing and harvesting one ton of seaweed is about £2,000. These costs translate to about £3,300/year for powering one household and include the seeding and deployment of the baby seaweed, and then harvesting the algae at maturity and transporting it to an anaerobic digestion plant suitable to receive marine biomass rich in salt. This cost can be compared with the annual household electricity bill in the UK, which is about £700. The research team concluded that these production costs are prohibitively high, and that if seaweed should be used for energy generation, its production cost should be reduced to £23/ton to be competitive with alternative biomass sources, such as corn and grass silage. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| Impact Types | Societal,Economic |
| Description | Seaweed cultivation introduction for new developers |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | UKERC Whole Systems Networking Fund |
| Amount | £1,548,306 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/R007071/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2017 |
| End | 12/2019 |
| Title | Seaweed harvester |
| Description | A tripod stand was developed to improve harvesting methods for stripping seaweed from longlines with minimal manpower required. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Tripod harvester significantly improved the speed of harvesting, we are assessing whether it is suitable for patent at the moment. |
| Description | Business/entrepreneur support |
| Organisation | SeaGrown |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Providing assistance for new seaweed food production company, knowledge on establish seaweed farm and how to collect wild seaweed |
| Collaborator Contribution | Assistance from CPI for identification of potential bioproducts and routes to market |
| Impact | NA |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | SeaGas project meetings |
| Organisation | Centre For Environment, Fisheries And Aquaculture Science |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The SeaGas Project was launched with a kick-off meeting at CPI, Wilton Centre, Wilton, Redcar. Regular meetings take place every three months with all the project partners |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project was presented and each partner agreed the the next steps in the research and collaboration activities |
| Impact | This is a multidisciplinary collaboration that brings together scientists, social scientists, policy makers, industry partners to study the opportunity of using kelp for anaerobic digestion and energy generation |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | SeaGas project meetings |
| Organisation | Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The SeaGas Project was launched with a kick-off meeting at CPI, Wilton Centre, Wilton, Redcar. Regular meetings take place every three months with all the project partners |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project was presented and each partner agreed the the next steps in the research and collaboration activities |
| Impact | This is a multidisciplinary collaboration that brings together scientists, social scientists, policy makers, industry partners to study the opportunity of using kelp for anaerobic digestion and energy generation |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | SeaGas project meetings |
| Organisation | Crown Estate |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The SeaGas Project was launched with a kick-off meeting at CPI, Wilton Centre, Wilton, Redcar. Regular meetings take place every three months with all the project partners |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project was presented and each partner agreed the the next steps in the research and collaboration activities |
| Impact | This is a multidisciplinary collaboration that brings together scientists, social scientists, policy makers, industry partners to study the opportunity of using kelp for anaerobic digestion and energy generation |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | SeaGas project meetings |
| Organisation | Newcastle University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The SeaGas Project was launched with a kick-off meeting at CPI, Wilton Centre, Wilton, Redcar. Regular meetings take place every three months with all the project partners |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project was presented and each partner agreed the the next steps in the research and collaboration activities |
| Impact | This is a multidisciplinary collaboration that brings together scientists, social scientists, policy makers, industry partners to study the opportunity of using kelp for anaerobic digestion and energy generation |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | SeaGas project meetings |
| Organisation | Scottish Association For Marine Science |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The SeaGas Project was launched with a kick-off meeting at CPI, Wilton Centre, Wilton, Redcar. Regular meetings take place every three months with all the project partners |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project was presented and each partner agreed the the next steps in the research and collaboration activities |
| Impact | This is a multidisciplinary collaboration that brings together scientists, social scientists, policy makers, industry partners to study the opportunity of using kelp for anaerobic digestion and energy generation |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Valuing the ecosystem services of green infrastructures for making life better at Musgrave Park Hospital |
| Organisation | Belfast Health and Social Care Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Intellectual input, questionnaire development, data analysis |
| Collaborator Contribution | Access to data and facilities |
| Impact | This collaboration will result in a report on the monetary value of green infrastructure improvements at Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | British Phycological Society talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Karen Mooney attended the BPS conference and presented on the SeaGas seaweed growth research at QUB. The talk was well received with further collaborations developing with other institutions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Gibson Insitiute student visit 16 Nov 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | A boat trip for 31 students from the Gibson Institute was organised to visit the SeaGas site in Strangfod Lough. The students also spent time learning how and why the SeaGas team cultivate seaweed in the lab, deploy and harvest the seaweed. They also got an introduction to the work the SeaGas project partners do in relation to anaerobic digestion, data collection and model building. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Information evening and networking event 20 April 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The aim of the session was to introduce the Seagas project with short talks from key project partners and establish a stakeholder network within Northern Ireland for those interested in kelp cultivation, Anaerobic Digestion or the seaweed energy marketplace. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Interview with Radio 4 Farming Today 12 Sep 16 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Emma Gorman interviewed on Radio 4 Farming today about seaweed farming broadcast 12 September 2016 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07rkjfy |
| Description | KM Green Impact talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Karen Mooney presented a 1 hour talk on SeaGas and kelp bioenergy as part of the QUB Green Impact Awareness week. Attendees were staff and students from QUB and the talk was well received with good feedback from audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Lab visit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Hosted James Strong from Plymouth University and visitor from Maylasian seaweed farm to seaweed facility in QML. Tour of laboratory and hatchery, discussion on cultivation practices. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Meeting with DAERA 2 June16 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Meeting with Michael Cubitt Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs NI 2nd June 2016. Michael and another member of the team at DAERA toured the SeaGas site and facility at QML to discuss the concerns raised by the Good Family and neighbours in relation to the SeaGas site. The representatives from DAERA went to the SeaGas site with members of the SeaGas team to see the long lines with well established kelp and also those that grew poorly due to delayed deployment as a consequence of bureaucracy and legitimate concerns of local land owners. Subsequently agreement was reached between DAERA and the Goods that it would be best if they could deal directly with the SeaGas team at QML to resolve any concerns. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Meeting with Eleni from PML |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Karen Mooney and Alberto Longo had a meeting with Eleni Papathanasopoulou from Plymouth Marine Laboratory on possible seaweed cultivation economics and monitoring collaborations |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Meeting with Landowners 05 Sep 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | On 5th September 2016 two members of the Good family and two members of the Sandford family, two local landowners who objected to the SeaGas project for reasons of visual disturbance were welcomed to the Marine Station in Portaferrry after an initial meeting at the Goods home previously. This visit to the Marine Station allowed the SeaGas team an opportunity to introduce the families concerned to the work we do. The opportunity was taken to take the families through the entire process required to grow kelp at the lab until the point of deployment. By seeing the entire process and not just the buoys out at sea the families came to understand the amount of work involved and the pride that we take in what we do. Subsequently we have come to an arrangement on the buoys at sea, altered the colour, and now we have a good working relationship. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | NI Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Karen Mooney and Liz Ashton had a seaweed bioenergy stand at the Northern Ireland Science Festival Roadshow. Events were help in Dungannon, Coleraine, Enniskillen and Newry, with over 800 people attending. Audience was a mix of children and adults, and the stand had a range of seaweed species, seaweed products and demos on how to cultivate and use seaweed for bioenergy. Feedback was very positive and people are looking forward to seeing us again next year. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | NI Science Festival School Open Day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | NI Science FEstival event held at QUB School of Biological Sciences about Climate Change. SeaGas stand about the potential of seaweed bioenergy to reduce carbon emissions as sustainable fuel of the future. Lots of interest from public and children, some researchers interested in future collaborations |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://nisciencefestival.com/event.php?e=177 |
| Description | Ocean Veg Ireland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Sarah Jane Barry technician from Ocean Veg Ireland based on Rathlin Island started contact with Seagas in March 2016 and ongoing. The SeaGas team has been able to give advice and transfer of practical knowledge in relation to hatchery experience and macro algal culture techniques. The SeaGas team is also culturing Saccharina and Laminaria gametophytes for Ocean Veg Islander Seafood. The Rathlin Island team have reported that the harvest from the line seeded with QML cultured Sacchrina is one of their best and allowed them to harvest throughout the Winter of 2016 which was a first for the team. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
| URL | http://www.islanderseafood.com |
| Description | QML Seagas Funday 30th July 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Fun day attracted over 600 people to the Marine Station in Portaferry. SeaGas was presented to the local people and tourists. Many families from fishing backgrounds were in attendance as well as people from all walks of life and ages. The SeaGas exhibit took members of the public through the entire process of gathering seaweed, releasing spores, growing the young kelp and harvest. In the newspaper article by Ards Chronicle 4th August 2016 there are photos of the QML Funday and SeaGas technician Brendan McNamara is introducing a local woman Caroline McDowell to gametophyte cultures under the microscope. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | QUBio Blog post |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Blog post written about the SeaGas project aims, specifically with QUB focus. Shared on Facebook, Twitter, university email lists and QUBio blog page. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/qubio/2015/12/11/what-the-kelp-is-it-all-about/ |
| Description | Roshni Paul, Birmingham 2015-2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Since October 2015 we have been sending samples of Saccharina and Alaria to Roshni Paul a PhD student of Dr Lynseys at the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment Millennium Point Curzon Street Birmingham. This was ongoing every month until December 2016. The project dealt with anaerobic digestion and co-digestion of algae with various co-substrates. We sent Saccharina latissima and Alaria esculenta samples fresh (harvested recently and de-watered) and dried samples for testing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016 |
| Description | School Visit (St. Josephs) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | School talk as part of a STEM initiative. Talk was on my work in SeaGas on renewable energy and use of seaweed in sustainable marine biomass, development of marine careers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | School talk (Ballyholland Primary School) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | SeaGas staff were requested to attend Ballyholland PS to deliver talks to all year groups - P1 to P7. Talks were on the SeaGas project, using kelp as bioenergy source and importance in local ecosystems. Talks were very well received with requests for future talks from other schools. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | School talk - Lismore Comprehensive |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | School talk as part of a STEM initiative. Talk was on my work in SeaGas on renewable energy and use of seaweed in sustainable marine biomass, development of marine careers. The talks are part of a wider scheme to improve awareness of the research and public acceptance of cultivation facilities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | School talk - St. Columba's, Portaferry |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | School talk as part of a STEM initiative. Talk was on my work in SeaGas on renewable energy and use of seaweed in sustainable marine biomass, development of marine careers. Also as the school is situated in the cultivation area, the talks are part of a wider scheme to improve awareness of the research and public acceptance of cultivation facilities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | School talk Portaferry |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Karen Mooney and Brendan McNamara did a school talk at Portaferry Integrated Primary School in July 2017. There were about 25 pupils present and the talk was very well received with several students very interested in seaweed. One pupil wrote to us afterwards saying that due to the talk she decided to change her birthday present from a Barbie Camper Van to a microscope! |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | School talks, Ballyholland Primary School, 28 January 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of the SeaGas project to schools in Ballyholland. About 150 pupils attended the event. During the event, the seaweed cultivation was presented. Pupils were introduced to the role of kelp farming for anaerobic digestion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://twitter.com/BallyhollandP/status/692450125029974017 |
| Description | School visit - St Pauls High School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | School talk as part of a STEM initiative. Talk was on my work in SeaGas on renewable energy and use of seaweed in sustainable marine biomass, development of marine careers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Seaweed and Algal Aquaculture: Opportunities and Challenges workshop, Norwich |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Karen Mooney presented a talk on SeaGas seaweed cultivation at the Seaweed and Algal Aquaculture: Opportunities and Challenges workshop in Norwich. Audience was a mix of academics, policymakers, students and industry partners, with some excellent discussion on overcoming challenges in cultivation of seaweed. Also excellent networking opportunity with some good connections made. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Seaweed for Food Open Day at QML |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Open day/workshop at Queen's Marine Laboratory in collaboration with Peninsula Kelp. Public attended for a talk on Sustainable Seaweed (for food and Fuel) and the seaweed research at QUB/SeaGas. Had a tour around the lab and the seaweed hatchery and then a session with Peninsula Kelp about seaweed food products, seaweed for health and opportunity to purchase food/seaweed products. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://nisciencefestival.com/event.php?e=130 |
| Description | St Oliver Plunketts Primary School 12 May 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | On the 12th of May 2016 SeaGas outreach visited St Oliver Plunketts PS in Belfast. On this occasion all of primary two about 125 children were divided into smaller classes and had 45minutes each of introduction to sea life including algae and the importance and purpose of the work being done by SeaGas in growing Algae. Once the kids had listened to the talk and asked questions they were invited to get hands on with the seaweed plunging their hands into aquaria with different seaweeds, stretching kelp across the hall and trying to release a stone from the clutches of a kelp holdfast. We have been invited back this year to do an outreach event on 18th May 2017. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Student site visit, Portaferry, December 13th, 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Students from the Undergraduate course BSc Land Use and Environmental Management visited the facilities in Portaferry, by Strangford Lough, to appreciate the biology of growing kelp for anaerobic digestion. The students involved in the visit were 15. Some students expressed an interest in work placement opportunities within the SeaGas project |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |