20. Sustainable Biorefinery and Bioenergy Models Based on Seaweeds, as a Potential Feedstock for the Black Sea Coastal Area

The Romanian coastline of the Black Sea has abundant seaweed resources, which create in summer period discomfort when the coastal area is flowed by thick lever seaweeds and that has a negative impact on the touristic area. That process reaches its maximum during the end of July and August. Usually, these seaweeds are collected when they reach the coast and are then stored in regional landfill waste deposits. Statistical data show that more than 9000 tons of seaweeds were collected during the last year. These were naturally degraded, causing an important environment impact. This paper focuses on the presentation of the results obtained at lab scale for the conversion of the Black Sea coast seaweeds. The first part of this work presents the state of art and the assessment of the chemical and physical composition of this feedstock. In the second part is presented the optimal technological scheme for developing one bioenergy model to produce biogas by the anaerobic digestion process of the pre-treated and untreated biomass. This digester aims to be used by the owners of the fish farms and the owners of the local costal touristic units that are affected by this algae blooming. The digester model also integrates one cogeneration unit designed to use the resulting biogas to produce bioenergy (electricity and heat) for the local use.