LONDON, UK, October 29, 2008.
The Carbon Trust is launching the Algae Biofuels Challenge seeking to
commercialise the use of algae biofuel as an alternative to fossil based oil
by 2020.
The Algae Biofuels Challenge is a multi-million pound UK R&D initiative that
could see the Carbon Trust committing £3-6 million of funding in the initial
stages. The Department for Transport recently announced it will also be
contributing to the funding.
According to the Carbon Trust, algae-based biofuel has the potential to
replace a significant proportion of fossil fuel used in road transport and
aviation beyond 2020 creating an industry worth “tens of billions of
pounds”.
For example, initial forecasts suggest that algae-based biofuels could
replace over 70 billion litres of fossil derived fuels used worldwide
annually in road transport and aviation by 2030 (equivalent to 12% of annual
global jet fuel consumption or 6% of road transport diesel). This would
equate to a market value of over £15 billion, the Carbon Trust says.
Dr Mark Williamson, Innovations Director at the Carbon Trust, explains why
public investment in algae as an alternative to fossil fuel based oil is
vital: "We must find a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to oil for
our cars and planes if we are to deliver the deep cuts in carbon emissions
necessary to tackle climate change. Algae could provide a significant part
of the answer and represents a multi billion pound opportunity.”
The challenge now is to produce this second generation algae-based biofuel
cost effectively at scale. If successful, algae could deliver 6 to 10 times
more energy per hectare than conventional cropland biofuels, whilst reducing
carbon emissions by up to 80% relative to fossil fuels. Also, unlike
traditional biofuels, algae can be grown on non-arable land using seawater
or wastewater. Therefore, using algae as a biofuel feedstock avoids many of
the negative environmental, ecological and social impacts associated with
first generation biofuels.
The Algae Biofuels Challenge will accelerate the commercialisation of
microalgae bio-oil in two key phases. Phase one will provide grant funding
for research across areas including selection of suitable microalgae algae
strains for open pond production, maximising algae oil content and biomass
yield, maximising solar conversion efficiency, sustained algae cultivation,
and design and engineering of mass-culture systems.
Phase two is expected to see the construction of an open pond test and
demonstration plant. This plant will provide the facilities necessary to
continue the research conducted in phase one and demonstrate production at
commercial scale in a manner that can be replicated. To avoid any
unnecessary delays in eventual commercialisation the plant is likely to be
constructed overseas. This is because the majority of commercial production
of algae biofuels is likely to take place in tropical and sub-tropical
climates that have plentiful sunlight and temperatures that do not drop too
low or vary too much.
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