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Stephen O'Leary
Phone: 902-426-9259
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Producing biofuels from marine algae
Second generation renewable energy sources including microalgal biofuels have recently been the subject of heightened interest as a green alternative to traditional fossil fuels. Biofuels produced from renewable resources are key to energy sustainability and have the highest potential for carbon neutral liquid fuels. Algae have drawn a great deal of attention as a biofuel feedstock due to the predicted capacity of some species to produce oil at yields 20 times greater than traditional agri-crops do today. In addition, microalgae have a considerable growth requirement for carbon dioxide and large-scale cultivation systems provide the potential to recycle CO2 emissions from point source producers.
NRC-IMB has been developing a Canadian capacity to produce renewable fuels from marine algae through the following activities:
• Assisting Canadian industry in the development of commercial technologies for the mass production of algal biomass in temperate climates
• Screening microalgal strains for use in biofuel production and the optimization of cultivation conditions (temperature, irradiance, pH, nutrient regime, CO2 enrichment, etc.)
• Optimization of the processing and conversion technologies for producing renewable fuels (biodiesel, bio-jet fuel, ethanol, biogas, methane) from algal lipids and non-lipid algal biomass.
Beyond these technical objectives, NRC scientists are generating empirical data necessary to accurately assess the likelihood of an algal biofuels production system becoming environmentally and economically viable in a Canadian environment. Costs of production, environmental impact, and life cycle analysis of algal biofuels are being evaluated.
This research has the potential to impact the overall production of renewable energy in Canada through the establishment of a new second generation feedstock for biofuel production. An algal-derived biofuel industry is one that would not compete with agricultural land or inputs (including freshwater) and would recycle CO2 from industrial sources, thereby participating in the overall abatement of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions while providing new, environmentally sustainable revenue streams for CO2 emitters.
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