Algae biofuels
New Benchtop Photobioreactors from Electrolab enable research into algae biofuel - the fuel of the future.
The US Navy recently took delivery of 90,000 litres of a new type of biofuel, made from algae. The successful test flight by a Super Hornet jet fighter using the algae biofuel is a milestone in the US biofuels programme.
Can algae biofuel be produced in quantities that satisfy the world's ever increasing demand for energy? Such demand is projected to grow as global industrialisation increases in markets such as India and China.
In 2008 the British government-backed Carbon Trust launched an £8m Algae Biofuels Challenge, which focused on accelerating the development and commercial production of microalgae biofuels for use in aviation and road transport by 2020. 11 British Universities took up the challenge, among them Sheffield University.
At Sheffield’s Department of Chemical and Process Engineering Electrolab photobioreactors are being used to perform research into mechanisms for the overproduction of neutral lipids in microalgae for biofuel production.
More info on Electrolab photobioreactor
In the USA The Energy Independence and Security Act declared that America should produce 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022. President Barack Obama has allocated £530m ($800m) for biofuels research.
Many large oil companies, such as Chevron Shell, Exxon and Conoco are also investing heavily into bio algae research Watch video
Richard Branson has shown great interest in algae biofuel . In 2008 a Virgin Atlantic 747 aircraft powered by biofuel was test flown and Virgin Fuels is working with Boeing to use algae-derived biofuels in its aircraft.
All this puts bio-algae fuel well ahead of the 2 nearest biofuel rivals, which are bio-soy and bio-corn oil. Algae also has a big advantage as it is not used for food production.
Algal photosynthesis makes it a very efficient converter of solar energy. If fuel oil can be made from bioalgae in sufficient quantities and cheaply it would cut the world's reliance on fossil fuels.
There is however a split over how close algae fuel technology is to being scaled up for mass production.
Mary Rosenthal, executive the director of the Algal Biomass Organisation said "We're right at the cusp of commercialising and making fuel from algae. There are companies making thousands of gallons of biofuel now, but in several years - maybe by 2015 - we should be at millions of gallons."