Cancun, Q.R. — Acoording to Riviera Maya News, a sargasso treatment plant is set to open in Cancun next year. The company, Dianco Mexico, already has one plant in Mexico City and plans to open several more along sargasso-infested regions, starting with Cancun.
During a press conference, Dianco Mexico CEO Héctor Romero Morales said “There is already a solution, to take advantage of all the sargassum that invades the coasts of Quintana Roo and the Caribbean islands. In addition, there is now a place to deposit all the collected sargassum, to take full advantage of it in an ecological way and without waste.”
The company specializes in the scientific study of algae, he explained, saying that they have a patented solution for the sargasso. Romero Morales explained that the new Cancun plant will have the capacity to process up to 600 tons of seaweed daily in three shifts.
“In our first plant, we can receive 600 tons a day to take 100 percent advantage of the sargasso without generating waste. The issue is not what to do with the algae, it is about proposing solutions,” he added.
“All the sargassum, the stuff that accumulates on the coasts, is used to do three things: cellulose, organic fertilizer and biodegradable plastic (bioplastic). We are a Mexican company made up of entrepreneurs, environmentalists and scientists who have been working on this for close to five years,” he explained.
He says that the company will help alleviate the government and hotel expense of sargasso harvesting and provide a positive use for the seaweed by turning it into things like organic fertilizers. “In 35 minutes, we can process the sargasso that arrives on a truck into the final product to produce organic fertilizer.
“This organic fertilizer will be equal to, or much cheaper than chemical fertilizers, and with greater benefits adding that 10 percent of the sargasso is turned into cellulose.”
The company intends to open its first pilot plant in Cancun by the end of 2019. The plant is already under construction.
Source: Riviera Maya News
