Growing Biofuel in Saltwater: Making New Cropland

Carl Hodges is a 71 year old Atmospheric Physicist. He believes in solving problems, not whining about them. As shown in the photo above, Hodges is attempting to prove that Earth's humans can grow more biofuel than they had imagined--in saltwater! No need to use arable cropland, or for "stealing food out of hungry third world mouths" [according to some whiners].

Hodges' knack for making things grow in odd environments has been on display at the Land Pavilion in the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World in Florida and the Biosphere 2 project in Arizona.

Here in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, he's thinking much bigger....He wants to channel the ocean into man-made "rivers" to nourish commercial aquaculture operations, mangrove forests and crops that produce food and fuel. This greening of desert coastlines, he said, could add millions of acres of productive farmland ....Hodges has already built such a farm in Africa. Political upheaval there shut much of it down in 2003. That's why he's determined to construct a showcase project in North America to demonstrate what's possible....That's where salicornia comes in.

A so-called halophyte, or salt-loving plant, the briny succulent thrives in hellish heat and pitiful soil on little more than a regular dousing of ocean water. Several countries are experimenting with salicornia and other saltwater-tolerant species as sources of food. Known in some restaurants as sea asparagus, salicornia can be eaten fresh or steamed, squeezed into cooking oil or ground into high-protein meal.

Hodges, who now heads the nonprofit Seawater Foundation, plugged salicornia for years as the plant to help end world hunger. Do-gooders applauded. The private sector yawned....Then oil prices exploded. Hodges saw his shot to lift his fleshy, leafless shrub from obscurity.

That's because salicornia has another nifty quality: It can be converted into biofuel. And, unlike grain-based ethanol, it doesn't need rain or prime farmland, and it doesn't distort global food markets. NASA has estimated that halophytes planted over an area the size of the Sahara Desert could supply more than 90% of the world's energy needs. __More at LAT_via_CarlBrannen_via_GrahamHancock

Although it is not likely that sea levels will actually rise significantly in the next hundred years or so, it is quite true that industry cannot run without fuel. Given the tendency of the current US Congress to promote political peak oil energy shortages, it is important to pursue any source of useful liquid fuel possible.

Seawater can grow abundant single cell algae, or multi-cell seaweed, for conversion to biofuels. But if entire seawater plantations of land plants can also be grown, that opens up the process not only to coastal areas but to seasteads. Remember: the genetic engineering of plants is creating varieties of crops and trees that thrive in briny or salty water and soil.

You have to admire folks who single-mindedly pursue solutions to important problems. Quite unlike the whiners who populate most university department faculties--especially the social sciences and liberal arts.

More on Salicornia:

Salicornia provides value-added products: its seeds yield edible oil that is low in cholesterol and contains antioxidants; its succulent tips are used widely in Europe and USA in green salad dressings; the plant itself can be excellent fodder.

Research has revealed the potential of its biomass, too. The green biomass can be used as fodder for cattle. This fodder has increased milk yield by 15 per cent in addition to making it protein rich. The dry biomass is used to prepare particleboard (for use in furniture).