Riviera Maya, Q.R. — After a 14-month pilot project, the state is readying to start construction of its first sargassum biogas plant. Óscar Rébora, the State Secretary of Ecology and Environment, says several meeting have been had with the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) to promote the project.
He says engineering and feasibility studies are still pending, which takes time given the size of the project.
“These things take time. The transition from a pilot plant to an industrial plant is a very delicate matter,” he stressed, adding that the state of Quintana Roo is at the forefront with the first pilot plant to generate biogas.
He says the $40 million pilot project was used to research the transformation of sargassum and sludge from wastewater treatment plants into biodigestion and biogasification processes. He says that process places the state not only at the forefront in Mexico, but also in Latin America and the world.
During a recent report, he said their project found that after investigating the potential 140 industrial use of sargassum, only biogas and bioethanol production have proven viability.
The resulting products must be certified by the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks and the Ministry of Health, since the algae’s degradation causes health problems and therefore requires a certification process for each product.
This has been done, he commented, by monitoring the transformation of the seaweed through a panel involving the Secretariats of Science and Technology, Environment and Natural Resources, the Academy and scientists.
Tests at the pilot plant, which is fueled by macroalgae collected from the sea and the coast, were carried out over a period of 14 months.
Through biodigestion, gasification, and biomass boiler processes, it was proven that both the sargassum and the residual sludge can be processed together efficiently, meaning that “the project is ready to be scaled up to an industrial level.”
Regarding the required financing of up to $1 billion USD, he said interest from private equity funds in the Netherlands (Dutch Clean Tech) have expressed interest in the sargassum-fueled biogas plant.
Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama says the state is ready to start construction of the approximately $1 billion industrial version in January of 2026.
“In January, we will start building a biogas plant that will be produced from sargassum,” said Lezama, highlighting that Quintana Roo is the first state to monitor sargassum for its utilization, actions by her government to turn the problem into an opportunity.
“We are at the forefront of the region, being the state that has invested the most in understanding the impact and potential uses of sargassum. We are the only state in the country with a sargassum monitoring center operated using satellite technology in collaboration with the European Space Agency,” Governor Lezama explained.
She said that as part of the circular economy development hub for well-being, which aims to promote the valorization and optimization of resources and waste management, work has been done to identify how sargassum can be processed.
“The goal is to turn an environmental challenge, which it is, into a great opportunity for development and well-being, and we’re making great progress in this regard,” she said.
