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Development of Vietnamese seaweed biomass

Update: 3/13/2015

 

According to the litterature the Vietnamese seaweed flora contains about 800 species divided over  three phyla i.e., Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta and Phaeophyta. An extensive resource  survey along the coast of Vietnam in 2009-2010 indicated 40 species of high biomass from 35.50—600.00 dry gram/m2 .

The total standing crop of all species of seaweed in the country was estimated at approximately 57,045 dry tonnes or 285,218.1 wet tonnes at the time of April / 2010 and the carbohydrate content averaged from 38.8 to 63.24% of the dry weight.  At present, in Vietnam 9 species are cultivated at commercial scale, and with some type of cultivation systems and technological improvements have produced  2 to 27.4 dry tonnes / ha / year.

The total of the cultivation areas together with the areas of natural beds of Gracilaria and Kappaphycus, taking into account appropriate cultivation methods and management of vietnamese seaweed resources towards sustainable exploitation, a potential production yield is estimated of 2,549,974 dry tonnes/year of Vietnamese seaweed.

This would indicate that the seaweed biomass can not only respond to demands of production of the bioethanol factories in Vietnam at present but could also play a role at the exporting markets.

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