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Published January 29, 1981 | public
Book Section - Chapter

Biomass Production by Freshwater and Marine Macrophytes

Abstract

Biomass plantations for energy production in coastal and oceanic settings have several inherent attractions. Water requirements for aquatic plants may pose no serious limitations. Algal tissues do not contain high proportions of refractory materials such as lignin and cellulose (which might complicate processes for conversion to certain fuels). Many algal species show little or no seasonal changes in potential for growth and presumably can be maintained indefinitely. Photosynthetic conversion efficiencies are good. Space is abundant in the oceanic environment and environmental energy in waves and currents might be utilized for tasks such as obtaining and dispersing plant nutrients.

Additional Information

© 1981 American Chemical Society. Received May 19, 1980. Published in print 29 January 1981. Current research support from the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract E(04-3)-1275 and from the Office of Sea Grants under Grant No. 04-5-158-13 is gratefully acknowledged, as well as past support from the U.S. Navy and the National Science Foundation. Advice from Drs. Michael Barcelona, George Jackson, James Morgan, and Clair Patterson, and from Michael Burnett was invaluable. Our thanks are also due to Drs. John H. Ryther and Joel C. Goldman for helpful discussions and for supplying us with their most recent information concerning thier studies. The authors are especially grateful to Sylvia Garcia for the AAS determinations. Thanks are due to the Kerckhoff Marine Laboratory staff for assistance in all aspects of the work: Peter Allison. Brian Anderson, Barbara Barth, Randall Berthold, Elliott Crooke, Henry Fastenau. Laurence Jones, Victoria Kromer, Virginia Martini, Frank Sager. Thomas Stephan, and Mary Ann Wheeler. In part, this work is a result of research sponsored by NOAA Office of Sea Grants, Department of Commerce.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
January 14, 2024