CO2 chomping Algae to fuel cars, cut greenhouse gas and create jobs

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 04 March 2009 04:17

Opinion and Analysis

“Making biodiesel from algae removes the issue of competing land use because the facilities would not be established on land that might otherwise be used to grow food and the algal farm has a very low environmental impact in comparison to crops that are grown for biodiesel,” Dr Beer said.

“Our study also found that the establishment of a 500 hectare algal biodiesel plant in a rural area might create up to 45 jobs and provide opportunities to diversify in the agricultural sector.”

The CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship is working with a number of partners, both national and international, to develop a strong algal biofuel research program.

“The Flagship’s research has made significant progress in a short time and our extensive biofuels program will continue to develop solutions that result in a secure fuel future for Australia,” Dr Beer said.

Despite the global interest in the production of biodiesel from algae, further research is required to create a viable industry with widespread uptake and impact.

“Although the findings of our study are very promising, challenges still exist in relation to cost, infrastructure needs and the scale of production required to make algal plants feasible,” Dr Beer said.

“We see biodiesel from algae as one potential option for sustainable fuel production amongst a range of other technologies.”

The paper, Greenhouse gas sequestration by algae – energy and greenhouse gas life cycle studies, is authored by CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric researchers Peter K. Campbell, Tom Beer and David Batten.