Dr John Benemann, who has worked in the area of microalgae biofuels in the United States for more than30 years, has been appointed as a specialist advisor to the Future Fuels Consortium comprising the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), Flinders University, CSIRO and major project sponsor SANCON.
Dr Benemann says SA has the potential to produce algal biodiesel feedstock but there are challenges in developing a sufficiently low-cost technology to produce microalgae biofuel economically, including stable cultivation at high productivity and harvesting.
By off-setting production costs with high value co-products such as nutraceuticals, and co-processes such as waste water treatment, the vision of algal biofuels could be realised in the nearer term, he said.
As an example of the potential of microalgae for biodiesel production, it has been estimated that only 400,000 hectares of land using seawater is required to replace Australia's current biodiesel needs, compared to 20 million hectares of canola growing on agricultural land and using freshwater resources.
See moreBy the way, have you subscribed to the Oilgae Blog?; How about joining the Oilgae mailing list?; and our forum to discuss on with others?
No comments:
Post a Comment