Bioenergy & Waste News

Thursday 23 October 2008

The Carbon Trust has today launched a publicly-funded challenge to the biofuels industry for the research and development of algae biofuels, to which the organisation could contribute up to £6 million.

The Algae Biofuels Challenge aims to speed up the development of algae biofuel as an alternative to fossil fuels, with a view to fully commercialising it by 2020.

And, in addition to the £3-6 million made available by the Carbon Trust, the Department of Transport has also announced that it will be contributing to the initiative as well.

Transport Minister Andrew Adonis welcomed the project launch, saying: "Everyone agrees that to tackle climate change we must develop new and cleaner fuels. But we are clear that biofuels will only have a role to play in this if they are sustainably produced.

"This project demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that second generation biofuels are truly sustainable - and will further our understanding of the potential for microalgae to be refined for use in renewable transport fuel development, to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions," he added.

The government-funded Carbon Trust, which is today inviting potential developers to come forward with proposals, said it was looking for expertise from algae specialists in the UK to develop "green oil" cost effectively, and to scale.

"Unique knowledge"

Dr Mark Williamson, innovations director at the Carbon Trust, said: "Algae could provide a significant part of the answer and represents a multi-billion pound opportunity.

He continued: "Through the Algae Biofuels Challenge, we will be combining the UK's undoubted expertise in the area with our unique knowledge and experience of commercialising early stage low carbon technologies, to give us the best possible chance of successfully producing cost-competitive algal biofuel at scale."

As part of the first phase of the Algae Biofuels Challenge funding will be granted to successful bidders for research across a number of areas, including: the selection of suitable microalgae strains for open pond production, maximising algae oil content and biomass yield, maximising solar conversion efficiency, sustained algae cultivation, and design engineering of mass-culture systems.

The second phase of the project is expected to see the construction of an open pond test and demonstration plant. This plant, would provide the facilities needed to continue research and demonstrate production on a commercial scale.

Because of the majority of commercial production of algae biofuels is likely to take place in tropical and sub-tropical climates with plentiful sunlight and consistently warm temperatures, the demonstration plant is likely to be constructed overseas.

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, saving carbon emissions and creating a lucrative industry. The organisation cites forecasts that suggest that algae-based biofuels could replace 12% of annual global jet fuel consumption and around 6% of road transport diesel used worldwide by 2030.

This, says the Trust, would equate to an annual carbon saving of over 160 million tonnes of carbon dioxide globally and a market value of over £15 billion.

Gallagher Review

Last week Transport Minister Lord Adonis set out plans to make a more cautious approach to biofuels, following the recommendation in the Gallagher Review that the rate of increase in the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation be slowed to reach 5% in 2013-14 rather than 2010-11.

At the same time, he committed £6 million to the Carbon Trust for the development of algae-based biofuels.