The project was succesfully completed October 2011
Download the final report here: 
Energy production from marin biomass (Ulva lactuca) (1.9 MB)
The interest for utilization of algae for energy purposes has increased in the latest years and several major energy companies have invested heavily in this topic.
Algae are e very diverse group of organisms, varying from unicellular micro algae (plankton) to macro algae (seaweed) of up to several meters, but all able to perform photosynthesis.
Using macro algae for energy production has numerous advantages:
- The biomass yield from macro algae per hectare is many times higher than for traditional energy crops (e.g. willow)
- The content of carbohydrates can be very high which makes the biomass potential very suitable for bioethanol and biogas production
- Macro algae can be cultivated in both salt- and brackish water and hence no freshwater is needed for the production
- The production does not require farm land like other energy crops
Project objective
As the first project in Denmark we aim at cultivating and using macro algae for energy production.
Specific goals for the project:
- Estimate the growth potential for sea lettuce in land based basins
- Design of growth basins and harvest technologies for sea weed cultivation
- To analyse the compounds in the algae biomass
- Assess whether sea lettuce is suitable for combustion, gasification and production of bioethanol and biogas.