How the Netherlands is building a seaweed industry

How the Netherlands is building a seaweed industry Dutch chemists, biologists, and engineers lay the groundwork for an ambitious national plan Bordering the cold, gray North Sea, the upper reaches of the Netherlands are dominated by flat, sandy farmland stretching as far as the eye can see. This quiet, windswept landscape, some of which sits below sea level, is an unlikely contender to become a major chemical industry hub. But momentum is building among Dutch research organizations to turn it into a center for the sustainable production of biofuels and specialty chemicals from a largely untapped resource: seaweed. “The idea is to transform the North Sea into an energy- and raw-material-generating region,” says Jaap van Hal, innovation manager for biorefining at TNO, a Dutch government-funded research institute with expertise in converting biomass into fuels and chemicals. The proposal to mass-produce and process seaweed in the region has attracted funding from the ...