Ghana biorefinery project utilises seaweed

A project established to grow seaweed for the production of biofuel and pharmaceutical products has been launched in Ghana.

The project, which is the first of its kind in Africa, is planned to start late January and will establish the cultivation of seaweed along Ghana's coastline.

The project will be led by a team of experts from the Technical University of Denmark, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is expected to play a part in tackling the energy needs of Ghana.

Locally available enzymes will be used in the extraction of the useful materials from the seaweed.

'The cultivated seaweed will go through a number of processes that will be done at the chemical engineering department to extract the nutrients', Dr Moses Mensah, Ghana Coordinator for the project went on to say.