Seagriculture Speaker

Seagriculture USA
7 - 8 September 2022
Portland, ME, USA

ARPA-E MARINER: motivation and future directions

Dr. Simon Freeman, Program Director, ARPA-E, USA

About the speaker:

Dr. Simon Freeman serves as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E). His focus at ARPA-E is on maritime energy and environmental sensing technologies.

Freeman previously worked as a civilian oceanographer for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport. Freeman was Principal Investigator in the development of inflatable and bioinspired soft robotic systems for underwater vehicle and sensor design, new signal processing methods for acoustic sensing, detection and environmental exploitation, and pressure-tolerant technologies to enhance our access to the seabed.

Freeman earned a B.E. with Honors in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Marine Science from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Company info:

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) advances high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment. ARPA-E awardees are unique because they are developing entirely new ways to generate, store, and use energy. ARPA-E projects have the potential to radically improve U.S. economic prosperity, national security, and environmental well-being. We focus on transformational energy projects that can be meaningfully advanced over a defined period of time. ARPA-E empowers America's energy researchers with funding, technical assistance, and market readiness. Our rigorous program design, competitive project selection process, and active program management ensure thoughtful expenditures. ARPA-E Program Directors serve for limited terms to ensure a constant infusion of fresh thinking and new perspectives.

Presentation:

The ARPA-E MARINER program has invested more than $62M toward developing the foundations for an offshore macroalgal cultivation industry in the United States. Over the last 3 years, the program has developed new farm designs and cultivation practices that take us closer to scaled offshore biomass growth. As ARPA-E continues to support technological development in this area, our efforts turn toward addressing existing biomass markets and the potential to create new ones that could be served through early-stage technology investments. Here we plan to discuss areas of interest for ARPA-E, especially those that offset emissions and impacts from traditional commodity supply chains.

Keywords:

Macroalgae cultivation, supply chains, emissions offsets, valorization, biomass, bioenergy, critical minerals, fertilizer

Interview:

1) When was the first time you got involved with seaweeds and why?

I was born in Japan. From my youngest days I remember nori (the seaweed used in sushi rolls) and rice balls, or ‘onigiri’ being a part of my life. Later, I spent many summers of my youth in New Zealand exploring the underwater forests of Ecklonia radiata and the incredible biodiversity that inhabits them.

2) What is your view on the US seaweed industry in 2030?

The US seaweed industry has the potential to enable world-leading, transformational new biomass industries. You may think that is odd given that 99% of macroalgal cultivation occurs in Asia today. However, because the US doesn’t yet have a scaled, domestic production market for human food, and because we have people willing to innovate outside this market, we can develop diversified opportunities to create new value from macroalgal biomass. Here at arpa-e, MARINER has blazed the trail of developing new technologies for offshore scaled macroalgal cultivation. We are interested in diversified new uses for this future crop. Agricultural feedstocks that reduce emissions and land use, soil remediation and the reduction of terrestrial synthetic fertilizer use, and even potentially the ability to extract rare earths from seawater. Are all industries that could exist by 2030.

3) What will you be talking about at Seagriculture 2022 in Portland?

I’m excited to speak about the philosophy of MARINER to bring about large scale offshore cultivation, and discuss some of the paths I see forward for the productization of macroalgal biomass to support new, sustainable industries that address some of our important emerging energy needs.

Organizer: