Getting biofuel from algae isn’t a new idea but it is getting some new attention from Royal Dutch Shell. The company has just announced plans to begin a marine algae pilot facility in Hawaii.
The move is one of many commercially focused research initiatives aimed at tapping into biofuel sources that are less apt to cause land-use, deforestation and food price issues, like those associated with palm oil, corn and other crops.
Algae as a source of biofuel has been on the radar since the 1970s. The U.S. Department of Energy funded the ‘Aquatic Species Program’ study that ran from 1978-1996 through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The research focused on high-oil algae cultivation for biodiesel. At the time the program was canceled, algae was competing against low oil prices. Surging oil prices and advances in biotech over the past decade have refueled the algae biocrude race.
Shell’s plan is also driven by upcoming changes in “government mandates in the United Says and Europe that will require a small percentage of road fuels to be derived from renewable sources in coming years.” Algae just might prove to be the most lucrative biofuel choice. The crop has the potential to outproduce other biofuel crops by 10-200% per acre. Even though Shell has a disastrous environmental record, the move towards algae-based biofuel has a lot of positive factors to take into account.
My biggest concern is why Hawaii? Algae grows anywhere and in any type of water, fresh, salt, brackish or wastewater so picking a fragile archipelago ecosystem to conduct this research in doesn’t make sense to me. Thoughts anyone?
Check out Algae Biocrude by LiveFuels, a national algae cultivation research initiative from the US DOE.
Via ENN
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