"The key idea is moving kelp stocks daily up to near-surface waters for sunlight and down to darker waters for nutrients," Diane Kim and Igancio Navarrete, the lead researchers of the study who are both from the University of Southern California (USC), wrote alongside their USC colleague Jessica Dutton for the Conversation.

The findings of the study are due to be published this May in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.

Why use giant kelp for biofuel?

Marine biomass can be converted into different forms of energy, such as ethanol and biodiesel. Ethanol is commonly produced from corn while biodiesel is made from oily plants such as soybeans and oil palm. But scaling up the production of these land crops drives up the need for deforestation since it competes with other uses of farmland.