[Pil-pc-oceania] Algae in the news: fuelling a futures world (PIRSA)

[Deb Guildner]

VISION OF A FUTURE WORLD FUELLED BY ALGAE

(from Primetime, Autumn 2008, SA Govt Primary Industries and Resources, page 21) 

In the race to produce environmentally sustainable biofuels, SARDI has appointed Dr Eric Cappelle to manage a state-of-the-art national photo-bioreactor facility, currently under construction at SARDI's Aquatic Science facility at West Beach in Adelaide's western suburbs.

The $5 million facility is one of two national biofuels projects being constructed in Australia, and will be used to further develop new research into microalgae as a viable alternative feedstock for biofuels.

Dr Cappelle says the high tech infrastructure will allow existing lab-scale bioreactor results to be validated at a pilot and demonstration-scale and is a major step forward in fully commercialising the much anticipated technology.

"The potential of microalgae as a renewable biofuels source is an exciting alternative to existing sources.  It produces at least 30 times more oil per unit of land than crop-based fuels.  A big benefit is that microalgae takes the greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere and uses it to grow and multiply", Dr Cappelle said.

Dr Cappelle holds a degree in organic chemistry and a doctorate in applied science, and has extensive international experience in designing and building new scientific infrastructure, such as pilot plant facilities and labratories.  He also has strong foundations in biodiesel production, testing and quality control.

The SARDI Biofuels group project is supported by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) through State and Commonwealth funding. The West Beach facility will be fully operational by mid 2009.

http://www.sardi.sa.gov.au/pages/biofuels/biofuels_research_program.htm:sectID=877&tempID=1

Fuel's clean green future
GEORGIA GOWING (The Independent Weekly)
9/05/2008 4:32:00 PM
It may just look like sludge, but this algae could prove to be the answer to the world's future energy needs.

Researchers from the South Australian Research and Development Institute have been working for nearly two years to develop suitable species of micro-algae to feed the growing demand for biofuel.


Usually made from canola, palm oil, tallow and even used cooking oil, biofuel has been lauded as the remedy to both dwindling supplies of fossil fuels and to global warming.


It burns clean and produces no greenhouse gases, but biofuel has become a dirty word recently with the news that it has added the global food crisis by using land that could otherwise have been planted with food crops.


As the price of rice ballooned to more than $1000 a tonne and oil passed US$120 a barrel, the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food called last week for an immediate halt to investment in the so-called first-generation biofuels that were hogging prime farming land.


Oil-producing algae is a second-generation biofuel because it does not compete with food crops. So far, its high production price has proved prohibitive.


At close to $3 a litre, it can't yet compete with either standard diesel or biodiesel made from food oils, but SARDI researcher Sasi Nayar and his colleagues are working to remedy that problem.


They have travelled South Australia, collecting samples of more than 400 strains of algae from 150 locations, looking for the little green goose that could lay the golden egg.


After months of painstaking work, they have found a promising saltwater strain and are now growing it in 5000 litre tanks at SARDI's West Beach research centre.


Dr Nayar said with its 30 per cent oil content, the algae was 30 to 50 times more productive than the oil seed crops currently used for biodiesel.


"But one of the main bottlenecks is the cost of harvesting," he said. "This brings the cost of the technology up. There are no commercial entities anywhere in the world that can produce micro-algal biodiesel on a commercial scale yet."


SARDI Sustainable Systems chief Rob Thomas said micro-algae represented the future of biofuel, but commercial production was probably about five years away.


"Assuming we could crack this technology, we could produce all of Australia's diesel needs in a pond 50km by 100km," Mr Thomas said. "Obviously you wouldn't have it all in one place - you'd spread it around - but you could easily produce 30 per cent of Australia's diesel needs through micro-algae.


"That in itself would be a major opportunity for Australia. We have high solar potential compared to Europe because we have plenty of sun. There's lots of cheap land that isn't suitable for crops, so it doesn't compete with food, and we have lots of saline ground water. 


"We've got along way to go before we achieve that vision, but it is possible."


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