Algae biofuel – fuel for the future

by Media Services on 15 Apr 2010 Researchers from the University of Southampton have been selected by the Carbon Trust to join a ‘UK dream team’ of top scientists to find world beating formula for algae biofuel.

The Carbon Trust is an independent not for profit company set up by the UK Government with support from business to take the lead on low carbon technology.

Twelve leading UK teams will work together with the organisation to find the best formula for cultivating 70bn litres of algae biofuel a year by 2030 that could be used by both global marine and land transport. It would provide a saving of over 160m tons of CO2 every year.

Starting from first principles of agriculture, thousands of strains of algae will be screened to find the winning few that can produce large quantities of a substance similar to vegetable oil. Additional research will develop methods for enabling large-scale production in algae ponds and next year the Carbon Trust plans to start construction of a pilot demonstration plant in an equatorial region where algae are most productive.

Algae has the potential to deliver five to ten times more oil per hectare than conventional cropland biofuels and new Carbon Trust lifecycle analysis indicates that, over time, it could provide carbon savings of up to 80% compared to fossil fuel petrol and jet fuel. With costs of algal biodiesel currently estimated to be approximately US$5 to US$10 a litre, the Carbon Trust is focusing on more cost effective production methods to ultimately bring the cost down to less than US$1 a litre.

A new coastal industry could be shaped around it, since the algae crops may well be located next to industrial facilities by the sea as algae can exist quite happily on salt water, so not depleting fresh water reserves. To provide the production of 70bn litres will require large scale plants using manmade algae ponds at various places around the world, which together would be equivalent to a landmass larger than Wales.

Launching Europe’s most significant public initiative into algae biofuels, Tom Delay chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said, ‘We have pulled together a dream team of over 70 UK algae scientists who have the expert knowledge to turn algae into a British biofuel success story. Applying principles this country has developed from its proud agricultural heritage and leading bioscience expertise we will be developing a truly sustainable biofuel that could provide up to 80% carbon savings compared to diesel savings in car and jet fuel. With a market value of over £15 billion the potential rewards are high.’

The Carbon Trust is investing £8m over three years into the projects using funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

Conducting the research are the universities of Coventry, Manchester, Newcastle (with Critical Processes Ltd), Sheffield, Southampton, Swansea (with Bangor Uni and PML) and London Queen Mary, plus the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) along with the Scottish Association for Marine Science.