Makai Ocean Engineering

Makai Ocean Engineering will lead a MARINER Category 3 project to develop tools to simulate the biological and structural performance of offshore macroalgae systems. Macroalgae farming systems will require significant capital and operating costs. Investment and management decisions can be guided by the development of advanced modeling tools to help better understand the nature of macroalgae production for profitable operation. Makai's project will result in a hydrodynamic-mechanical model which simulates forces on offshore algae structures from to waves and currents. Output from the model will be used to size primary components of the offshore systems, and to create cost estimates based on these components. Several scenarios will be modeled for varying wave sizes, water depths, and currents, and thus the results will inform trends in system cost versus oceanographic conditions. These trends will be used to determine the capital cost required per hectare of farm. Additionally, a three-dimensional and time-varying ocean circulation and biological algae model will be developed to simulate the transport, mixing, and consumption of nutrients and resulting algae growth rates. Multiple algae farm configurations will be modeled to gain an understanding of the tradeoffs between system size and nutrient supply requirements. Modeling tools like Makai's system will be critical for designing macroalgae farm components and systems which meet target costs and harvest yields to make them commercial viable and scalable.

If successful, MARINER projects strive to develop the tools needed to allow the United States to become a world leader in marine biomass production for multiple important applications, including the production of biofuels.