Biofuels

Nearing reality, or unfulfilled promise?

For some years now, a popular saying among those engaged in trying to create an algae based biofuel has been that “viable production is 10 years away and it will be 10 years away next year as well. ” Perhaps as much as anything else, this adage underscores the challenge confronting the air transport industry in finding a magic bullet to achieve its ambitious but still aspirational goal of halving emissions by 2050.

However, Australian scientists are now claiming that they are achieving the world’s best production rates of oil from algae grown in open saline ponds, taking them a step closer to creating commercial quantities of biofuel.