Blooming Biofuel: How Algae Could Provide the Solution

In the years since the discovery of significant concentrations of lipids in certain species of algae, estimates for the potential of the single-cell water-borne plant have varied wildly. What is agreed is the substantial potential for algae to become a valuable resource in the portfolio of second generation biofuels. The tiny plants can produce at least 15 times more oil per hectare than alternatives like jatropha, rapeseed and palm, and are 20 times as productive as corn and soy. Today, high-end food supplements are still the main algal product, but some estimate their fuels could compete with petroleum at US$60 per barrel.

Excitement, and sometimes hype, are keywords here.
‘I’ve seen calculations that Arizona could provide 40 to 60 billon US gallons (182 to 272 billion litres) of road fuels, biodiesel and ethanol, from algae, just utilizing its open space,’ explains Tom Byrne, secretary of the Algal Biomass Association and CEO of Byrne & Company Ltd, saying: ‘I don’t really see where algae are going to compete head-to-head with corn or soybeans or any of the feedstocks. That’s the excitement of it, because it doesn’t do that. Algae will play a leading role because it uses wastewater and CO2, and releases oxygen and clean water.’

The environmental advantages of algae – which absorb CO2 along with nitrates and phosphates – are coupled with the promise of commercial yields of high quality biofuel.

An indication of this potential is given by the growth of interest in the sector. According to Otto Pulz and his colleagues at the IGV Institute in Potsdam, Germany, the 100,000 known strains of microalgae in the world are currently being scrutinized by at least 200 companies with big plans. At first count, in 2007, there were just five. ‘Mainly in the U.S., it’s concentrated there,’ he says, with European interest next.

Renewable Energy Worrld