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tial engineering achievements, many of which have been addressed 

 in the west coast test farm operation. 



In addressing these alternatives, I have not touched upon the 

 many problems associated with the conversion of biomass to meth- 

 ane — natural gas. This is an area of research to be carried out by 

 our colleagues at General Electric and presents problems of some 

 magnitude — but of the same genre regardless of the feedstock spe- 

 cies. 



The problem here, as I understand it, is to produce a synthetic 

 natural gas that is economically feasible. Biomass conversion, of 

 course, has the long-term benefit of being based upon a self-renew- 

 ing natural resource. Screening of candidate species is a necessary 

 first step in the development of this new energy source in New 

 York State. 



I believe that we have an exciting opportunity to develop marine 

 seaweeds for bioconversion to synthetic natural gas. New York's 

 coastal waters are enriched with essential micronutrients neces- 

 sary for natural production at high levels. Selection of a species 

 with appropriate productivity which also proves to have a chemical 

 composition amenable to efficient microbiological conversion to 

 methane awaits experimentation and investigation. From this re- 

 search an array of opportunities opens up — opportunities that I 

 believe the State of New York and its public utilities anticipate 

 using to the fullest. 



Mr. Studds. Thank you very much. 



Are you by any chance using, at least in part, a euphemism 

 when you say New York's coastal waters are enriched with essen- 

 tial micronutrients necessary for natural production at high levels? 

 Is that, at least in part, a reflection of the phenomenon which in 

 another part of this committee's jurisdiction is viewed as a problem 

 rather than as an opportunity? 



Dr. Brinkhuis. Yes, that is true. The high nutrient values we 

 find in New York's coastal waters are primarily the result of 

 sewage effluent. 



Mr. Studds. So you are looking on the bright side of that prob- 

 lem. 



Dr. Brinkhuis. This is possibly an alternative for absorbing those 

 nutrients. You can look at that side too. 



Mr. Studds. What is the nature of the research plan between 

 New York Sea Grant and General Electric? 



Dr. Brinkhuis. As I understand it, the research plan is in var- 

 ious phases over the next 3 or 4 years. The first year project, which 

 is supposed to get underway, I believe, this month — or, if not, 

 October — is to start selecting a number of species of seaweeds that 

 could be screened both for chemical composition to find out how 

 compatible it is already with what is known about macrocystis, and 

 to take a limited number of these species and run them through a 

 methanogenesis operation, in other words, anaerobic digestion. 



Mr. Studds. So there hasn't been any testing as yet 



Dr. Brinkhuis. No, this is a research program that was just 

 initiated this summer. In fact, we wrote up a proposal to conduct 

 the research only this summer. 



Mr. Studds. How far away are we actually from your first test 

 farms? 



