Rum & Sargassum: The Biofuel Potential for Barbados and Beyond
SDSN Caribbean participant in the inaugural Global Solutions Forum (GSF) shows promising updates at the end of a two-year research grant.
With climate change and skyrocketing gas prices, it’s imperative that Barbados’ transportation sector become fossil-fuel free by 2030. At SDSN's inaugural Global Solutions Forum (GSF) in September 2019 in New York, Dr. Legena Henry fromfrom SDSN Caribbean 's host institution , the University of the West Indies (UWI) presented on the potential of biofuels as an alternative to electric vehicles in Barbados. Barbados is committed to removing fossil fuels from vehicles on the island, and Dr. Henry’s team aims to produce biofuel using sugarcane waste – a by-product of rum production.
Modern rum as we know it originated among enslaved men and women in the Caribbean, and the region’s rum now dominates the international rum industry. Wastewater from the rum industry is optimal for producing bio-methane via anaerobic digestion, which in turn can cheaply and easily power electric grids and vehicles. Rum distillery wastewater is a practical option for large-scale anaerobic digestion in a water-scarce island like Barbados. In addition to rum distillery wastewater, a solid, digestible feedstock is also needed for bio-methane production; thus, sargassum seaweed from local beaches was identified, harvested and tested successfully.
In October 2019, Dr. Henry’s project received a grant from Blue Chip Foundation to initiate twenty-two months of research to advance the initiative. The UWI has overseen the pilot project and evaluated the results while engaging dozens of the students in the process. At present, the goal is to determine how much biofuel can be reasonably produced and sold at refueling stations throughout the island. From the experimental results, it was calculated and projected that one year of transportation in Barbados requires 685,304,000 liters of rum distillery waste and 105,759 tons of fresh sargassum.
If implemented successfully, this alternative combustion method can avoid as much as 1 million metric tons of CO2 emissions every year in the country. To learn more about Rum & Sargassum and how to make any car a renewable energy car, please visit its website.
SDSN’s Global Solutions Forum (GSF) brings together sustainable development experts from around the world to showcase how they are implementing local initiatives that are advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. For more information, please visit: www.globalsolutionsforum.org .
