The Chemical Engineering Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) together with the Water Research Institute of CSIR and in partnership with the Danish Technical University have been awarded a 2 million USD DANIDA north-driven research grant to undertake a research and development program on seaweed biorefinery in Ghana. They were selected out of 28 participating institutions worldwide. The principal investigator and coordinator for Ghana on the project is Dr Moses Mensah.

This is the third of similar DANIDA awards. The first two are:

1. Biofuel production from lignocellulosic materials. Project sum: 2 million USD. Scholarship for 4 PhDs and 6 MSc postgraduate students at KNUST (ongoing)
   Principal Investigator and Ghana Program Coordinator: Dr Moses Mensah
    
2. Biobased electricity generation and fertilizer recirculation for developing countries using Microbial Cell Technology (MFC). Project sum: 500,000 USD. Scholarship for 2 MSc students at KNUST (ongoing).
   Principal Investigator (PI) and Ghana Programme Coordinator: Dr Moses Mensah

The research involves the identification of the most suitable seaweed species for cultivation and production of seaweed products, screening of indigenous enzyme-producing microorganisms for insitu production of enzymes, development of optimal processing conditions for extraction of seaweed polysaccharides, utilisation of seaweed processing waste for bioenergy production, integration of production of various seaweed products and bioenergy and sustainability assessment of the effects of seaweed production on coastal communities of Ghana.

The component of the research which involves the identification and cultivation of seaweed will be the first of its kind in West Africa. Other African countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa are engaged in the cultivation of seaweed. At the level of the further development, processing and construction of a pilot biorefinery, this is likely to be the first of its kind in Africa.

The programme, which will commence in January 2015, is expected to be completed in 2019 and will offer several PhD and MSc scholarship grants to postgraduate students of KNUST.