By William H Harriss

I have recently found a way to eliminate Sargassum from ever arriving in the Caribbean. I wrote about it last week on LinkedIn https://lnkd.in/eu-APKnX and had several approaches from private industry from the UK and US. Also numerous approaches from University researchers in the US.

I wanted to help the UWI and thought it would be a nice gesture if they could work on my research and findings and take some of the credit internationally. 

But I am now giving up on that because having sent three email messages to the Project Coordinator of Sargassum Projects at Cave Hill the person has not even had the decency to acknowledge my emails.

I shrugged it off and did other things because I have had these kind of responses in the past with innovations and inventions I have submitted to British Universities. Often academics feel hurt and insulted that a non-academic entrepreneur can achieve what they can’t despite their multi million dollar budgets and in house facilities. Its a kind of educational snobbery, it is quite common among the educated elite.

Well in this case, the Sargassum project is so massive, that they have damaged the University and stopped it having world acclaim in the matter of Sargassum control and destruction. They have lost a first, and I am sorry about that.

STOP PRESS

I just spoke with a Bajan friend who explained that I will not hear from UWI because they have a biogas project and what I have will kill that stone dead. Because if no Sargassum arrives on the beaches and clogs the fishing waters they will not have the Sargassum to make the biogas. 

He told me they are using biogas to run car engines and the slurry and liquid is being used on the land. I just hope that the biogas is in fact a purified form and is bio-methane. Because biogas will wreck a car engine after about 10,000 miles. It will also give out very dangerous exhaust fumes containing Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): These are known carcinogens and can be present in biogas and natural gas exhausts. 

Aldehydes: These compounds can also be found in biogas and natural gas emissions. 

Dioxins and Furans: These are highly toxic substances that can be present in biogas emissions. 

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx): These contribute to human health damage and are three times higher in biogas engines exhausts compared to natural gas. 

Sulfur Oxides (SOx): These rank second in contributing to human health damage, accounting for about 6% of the total damage. 

It is essential to monitor and manage these emissions to ensure the safety and health of the population and to comply with environmental regulations. 

The Sargassum slurry and liquids produced besides being great as fertilizers are so loaded with heavy metals they should never be put on agricultural land or in land fills or tips. Unless of course they have found a way to make these safe from heavy metal contamination. They would have a real job convincing me they have been able to do that.

When Sargassum is used to produce biogas, the heavy metals present in the spent slurry and liquids can be a concern due to they will become concentrated, and will have a potential to seriously affect and impact on the environment. They should most certainly never be used on the land. The biogas production process may involve the co-digestion of Sargassum with wastewater, which can lead to the release of heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and cadmium. These metals can also be released into the biogas, posing risks to human health and the environment. Therefore, it is essential to implement proper treatment and disposal methods to minimize the release of these heavy metals during the biogas production process. Just taking Sargassum and making biogas will not remove heavy metals, it will in fact concentrate them.

According to Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

The process of removing heavy metals from sargassum slurry can be both expensive and challenging. The cost of the process depends on various factors, including the type of heavy metal, the concentration of the slurry, and the method used for removal.

Cost: The cost can vary widely based on the method used. For instance, the extraction of hydrogen and critical metals from Sargassum involves an alkaline thermal treatment and molten salt electrolysis, which are not yet widely used in the industry.

Difficulty: The process requires careful management and may involve complex chemical reactions and processes. The research and development of efficient methods are ongoing, and the current methods are still in the experimental stage. 

It is essential to conduct thorough research and consider the long-term sustainability of the methods used for heavy metal removal from Sargassum slurry.

But whatever they do they will never be able to keep up with the ever increasing volume of Sargassum arriving. The process they are proposing will take a five acre site and even then will never be able to cope with the volume of Sargassum that Barbados can expect over the next few years. The only answer is to stop Sargassam from ever arriving in the Caribbean.

       The March of the Sargassum

It began as a whisper in warm Atlantic swells,

a bronze lace drifting, harmless as a dream.

Fish darted through its fronds,

turtles nibbled its edges,

and the sea wore it like a crown.

But the water grew hotter,

currents bent their spines toward strange horizons,

and the weed learned hunger.

It thickened,

braiding itself into endless mats,

a continent without soil,

rolling forward with the patience of tides.

Shorelines woke to its arrival—

the air sour with rot,

waves coughing up heaps that steamed in the sun.

Children’s laughter fled the beaches,

boats choked in amber nets,

and the sea’s blue skin

was veiled in a rusted shroud.

Now satellites watch its shadow

stretch across the equator,

a slow invasion written in drifting script.

It does not roar,

it does not rage—

it simply comes,

turning every harbor into a graveyard of Sargassums,

every horizon into a warning.

And somewhere in the deep,

the Sargassum listens to the pulse of the planet,

waiting for the last gap of open water

to close beneath its patient hands.

William H Harriss 2026