Seaweed aquaculture: farming kelp and CO2?

This data-file captures the economics of ocean carbon sequestration using seaweeds and kelps, which tend to generate 20T of dry biomass per acre per year, of which c10% is naturally sequestered in the deep ocean.

Revenues of $400/ton are needed for 10% IRRs, but the realization on dry kelp products is 10x more important than the CO2 price. Debatably, a $20-40/ton CO2 price could accelerate the industry by uplifting IRRs by 1-2%.

Cultivation purely for CO2 sequestration is more challenging, but could break even at $60/ton, according to our sensitivity analysis. Notes and data-points from technical papers are also tabulated in the data-file.

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