The Application of the Seaweeds in Neutralizing the “Ocean Acidification” as a Long-Term Multifaceted Challenge

Vincent Van Ginneken

doi:10.4236/gep.2019.712009

Abstract

The global effects of ocean acidification (OA) on coral reefs are of growing concern. Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels, not only has an effect on “global warming”, but also on OA which is called the “other CO2 problem”. OA combined with high ocean temperatures has resulted in a massive bleaching of coral reefs in the Indian Ocean and throughout Southeast Asia over the past decade, which is ultimately lethal. Here we discuss the option if innovative seaweed bio-technology—the Ulva lactuca bioreactor option, with its H+ ion-absorbing capacity and its huge green biomass production of around 50 MT/ha/year—which can stabilize our “World Ocean” and our global coral reefs. From our calculations, we came to the conclusion that an area covered with “Ulva lactuca bioreactors” with a production capacity of 250 × 1016 ha of seaweed per year is needed to remove all H+ ions that cause OA in our “World Ocean” since the beginning of the “Industrial Revolution” ≈ 250 years ago. This is a daunting task and therefore we have opted for a multi-faceted approach including variability in seaweed species, avoidance of eutrophication & heavy-metal accumulation, prevention of global warming by more green-biomass production and a better estimation of the huge Kelp seaweed populations in temperate zones in order to protect our coral reefs for the short term.

Highlights

We discuss the option if we can via innovative seaweed biotechnology—“the Ulva lactuca bioreactor” option (Figure 1) with its H+ ion absorbing capacity and its tremendous green biomass production of around 50 MT/ha/year (Bruhn et al, 2011, van Ginneken & de Vries, 2016)—stabilize our “World Ocean” and protect our coral reefs
From our calculations we concluded an area covered with “Ulva lactuca bioreactors” (Figure 1) of 250 × 1016 ha seaweed production capacity per year is needed in order to eliminate at once all H+ ions which cause ocean acidification (OA) in our “World Ocean” since the start of the “Industrial Revolution” ≈ 250 years around AD 1870 (Raven et al, 2005)
We demonstrated via ICP-techniques in seaweed moisture that seaweeds are champions in sequestering these toxic heavy metals in this way protecting coral reefs; e) In addition, it is not exactly known how much actual biomass of seaweeds are in the oceans

Summary

Introduction

Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of burning of fossil fuels has an effect on “global warming” (Oreskens, 2004). Dissolving CO2 in seawater increases the hydrogen ion (H+) concentration in the ocean, and decreases ocean pH, as follows (Raven et al, 2005): Southern Ocean (Raven et al, 2005; Caldeira & Wickett, 2003; Orr et al, 2005) These changes are predicted to accelerate as more anthropogenic CO2 is released to the atmosphere and taken up by the oceans

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Conclusion