Brown algae absorb a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release some of
the carbon they have absorbed as mucus back into the environment. Since this mucus is difficult for
other marine life to decompose, a significant amount of carbon is withdrawn from the
atmosphere, according to researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in
Bremen. Brown algae are the largest and most complex type of marine algae. They get their name from their brown, olive, or yellowish-brown colour, which comes from the pigment called fucoxanthin. This pigment is not found in other algae or in plants such as red or green algae, and as a result, brown algae are in the kingdom Chromista.
They reveal that the algal mucus called fucoidan is particularly responsible for this carbon
removal and estimate that brown algae could thus remove up to 550 million tons of carbon
dioxide from the air every year—almost the amount of Germany’s entire annual greenhouse gas
emissions.
They are edible algae found off the coast of Japan, Korea, and China. They are used for a variety of conditions including cancer, fibromyalgia, arthritis, stress, weight loss, heart disease, high cholesterol, and many other conditions.
Fucoidan is a recalcitrant chemical. Due to its complexity, other organisms have difficulty using fucoidan. As a result, the fucoidan’s carbon does not soon escape into space.
This makes brown algae very effective in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.