Biofuels from algae - new breakthrough claimed

A popular vision on biofuels of the future is that aquatic micro-organisms (algae and plankton) can be used as a biomass feedstock. A few years ago, a young PhD student at the University of New Hampshire published a paper on the internet about "Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae", building on previous research done by the U.S. Office of Fuels Development, a division of the Department of Energy, which funded a program from 1978 through 1996 under the National Renewable Energy Laboratory known as the "Aquatic Species Program". The focus of this program [*.pdf] was to investigate high-oil algaes that could be grown specifically for the purpose of wide scale biodiesel production. Similar programs ran in Europe and Japan, where the focus was on closed photo-bioreactors.
One company, GreenFuel, devised a system though which uses algae to absorb and feed on the CO2 coming from power stations [ill. 2], after which the algal biomass can be used as a biofuel feedstock. But the investments in this technology have been slow, and large-scale production is not likely in the near future.
This is because of the countless problems and barriers faced by algae systems, as they were highlighted by the research:

• if closed photobioreactors [ill. 1] are used, costs are extremely high (compare it to growing rapeseed or corn in greenhouses - it does not make commercial sense)
• if open pond systems are used [ill. 3] the costs drop dramatically but then the algae cultures become unstable with high drops in biomass productivity, yielding even less usable biomass than an average sugar cane or palm oil plantation
• given the fact that algae need water as a medium, both water requirements and the costs to process the wet algae are high
  
• genetically modified algae might be more stable, but then the environmental risks are extremely high (pollution and destruction of the biodiversity in water bodies and rivers)

Today, however we receive news of a Spanish company claiming to have developed a method of breeding plankton and turning the marine plants into oil, eliminating the commonly known problems, and providing a potentially inexhaustible source of clean fuel:
ethanol :: biodiesel :: biobutanol :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: Africa ::

Vehicle tests are some time away because the company, Bio Fuel Systems, has not yet tried refining the dark green coloured crude oil phytoplankton turn into, a spokesman said.

Bio Fuel Systems is a wholly Spanish firm, formed this year in eastern Spain after three years of research by scientists and engineers connected with the University of Alicante.

"Bio Fuel Systems has developed a process that converts energy, based on three elements: solar energy, photosynthesis and an electromagnetic field," it said in a press dossier.

"That process allows us to obtain biopetroleum, equivalent to that of fossil origin."

Phytoplankton, like other plants, absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. Scientists have examined the possibility of stimulating growth of the single cell plants as a means of reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

CO2, liberated by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, is widely held responsible for global warming.

Bio Fuel Systems said its new fuel would reduce CO2, was free of other contaminants like sulphur dioxide and would be cheaper than fossil oil is now.

"Our system of bioconversion is about 400 times more productive than any other plant-based system producing oil or ethanol," it said, referring to currently available biofuels made from plants like maize or oilseeds.

Bio Fuel Systems is working with scientists at the University of Alicante on the project. It has drawn up industrial plans to make the fuel and says it will be able to start continuous production in 14 to 18 months.

Reuters.

There is not much in the press dossier that actually indicates whether open pond systems are used. If photobioreactors are the main infrastructural element of the system, then costs are likely to be prohibitive.

We'll have to wait and see what comes from this new algae venture. It might be one of the many that doesn't take off. The company has no website yet.