37 



some kind. Or is there some problem about that we do not know 

 about? 



Dr. Flowers. One of our General Electric subcontractors, the 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Western Research Center in 

 Albany, Calif., is working on this very problem for us, taking 

 protein as food and feed, and fertilizer. 



Mr. Studds. Those are the second bells for the vote on the floor. 

 We will resume in 10 minutes. 



[Short recess.] 



Mr. Studds. The subcommittee will resume, and Mr. Emery, you 

 may resume. 



Mr. Emery. Thank you very much. 



Before the vote, we were discussing the process from which fuel 

 can be made from kelp, and we were discussing the disposal prob- 

 lems. 



I wonder if you might reflect a bit on the problem of salt content 

 in the use of residue for a feed, or agricultural fill? 



If you have a heavy supply, or heavy concentration of ocean 

 salts, it could become a problem for agriculture, and the feeds. 



Mr. Tompkins. The primary salt in the kelp is potassium chlo- 

 ride, which we are told by people at USDA could be a useful 

 element in fertilizers. 



Now again we are also considering the option of returning the 

 solid and liquid effluents to the ocean, primarily to take advantage 

 of the nitrogen as it passes through the process. 



Mr. Emery. Would that material be a suitable food supply for 

 kelp growers? 



Mr. Tompkins. Yes. We have done some analyses, which suggest 

 if we return the nitrogen, that is contained within the kelp plants, 

 and passes through the digestion process, back to the farm, it could 

 reduce our upwell requirement by about 20 percent. So it is a 

 significant consideration to be examined in detail in the future. 



Mr. Emery. I asked the previous witness questions as to the 

 feasibility of using different kinds of kelp as opposed to another. 

 Have you been able to do any experiments, comparing the use of 

 different kinds of kelp, other than the giant kelp that you have 

 done your work with, and if you have, is there any significant 

 difference in the supply of methane from the fermentation, or 

 rather the digestion process? 



Dr. Flowers. We have done no work on this, except macrocystis, 

 downstream we intend to check other varieties of kelp, as well as 

 start work this coming year on other species of seaweed, to check 

 the production of SNG, or methane from those species, as well. 



Mr. Emery. Do you have any reason to believe that the results 

 are going to be substantially different, either better, or worse, not 

 taking into account the cost of convenience of harvesting? 



Dr. Flowers. It all depends on the chemistry of the plants. 



Mr. Emery. Do you know how much that substantial difference is 

 in the chemicals of the various algaes? They are in the same 

 structure, but only in different biological forms, is that right? 



Mr. Tompkins. Let me try to answer that. The main refractory 

 elements, the chemicals within the macrocystis that are biodegra- 

 dable are algae, some cellulose. We have a lot of data on the rates 

 in which each of those refractory elements can result in gas. 



