A new source of biofuel is right on our shores - algae energy converted into biofuel.
In 2006 a New Zealand company working in partnership with the Marlborough District Council put algae-based biofuel into a Landrover outside Parliament and drove it around the courtyard.
Internationally algae is seen as an attractive alternative to other biofuel materials—such as corn, soybeans, and palm—because the slime has an oily (lipid) density and could theoretically produce far more oil per acre, reducing the cost of biofuels. This is particularly important as the algae that can be harvested is commonly found on sewage ponds.
Algae are the simplest plant organisms that convert sunlight and carbon dioxide in the air around us, into stored energy through the well understood process of photosynthesis. Although the exact biodiesel manufacturing technology is a well-guarded secret, the process involves processing the algae pulp before extracting lipid oil which is turned into bio-diesel. Harvested algal biomass can be broken down into the algae structure and then to basic chemical compounds.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) offers the opportunity to further reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere and algae is also seen as a 'carbon sink' - that is a way to soak up and store CO2 removing it from the air. The Queensland State Government has recently committed A$1 million for a groundbreaking trial which uses algae to soak up carbon emissions from the Tarong Power Station, the first coal-fired power station in Australia to use the technology as part of the $5 million MBD Energy Limited trial. The number of coal-powered electricity plants is increasing and the World Coal Organisation says that 41% of world electricity is coal generated, so ways to reduce carbon emissions are vital. Coal generation is the largest single source of power and will reach 44% of world generation in the next 20 years (http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/uses-of-coal/coal-electricity/ ). Coal generation of electricity also releases significant methane emissions, and methane by volume is twenty times more damaging than carbon emissions.
CO2 makes up almost 80% of human-created GHG emissions. Over the last 100 years, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has risen, in large part driven by fossil fuel use but also because of land-use change and deforestation.
