Once merely the bane of poorly-managed backyard pools and shellfish enthusiasts, humble algae may soon become one of humanity’s best allies in the battle against climate change. And unlike other forms of green energy currently rising to the fore, the clean fuel delivered by algae would require significantly less retooling of current infrastructures, meaning lower costs involved in the changeover, and a shorter timeline to widespread adoption. 

Many other popular biofuels boast rapid rates of growth and reproduction. Poplar trees reach maturity after six years, quite fast for a tree, while most other biofuels can be successfully harvested after only a season. But unicellular algae reproduce with such astounding speed and efficiency that while the organisms remain roughly the same size, their populations can go from filling a petri dish to filling a biofuel plant within a matter of days. 

Biofuel algae also bring another tremendous biological advantage to the table: while most biofuel processing involves harvesting some form of sugar or cellulose and then converting it into ethanol, strains of biofuel algae naturally produce their own oils, which can be fed into biofuel engines with minimal processing.   

As if these advantages weren’t reason in themselves to pursue algae as a source of clean fuel, the microorganism can be grown in essentially any environment where salt water and sunlight are available. And to top it all off, energy production from biofuel algae projects is massive, yielding 30 times more energy per acre than its terrestrial competition.

The major limiting factors in the adaptation of algal biofuel have been maintaining optimal conditions for algae growth. While it might seem easy enough to fence in a saltwater pond or section of ocean, small fluctuations in temperature, pH, salinity and sunlight levels can have a devastating impact on a population of microorganisms. Also, because only certain strains of algae produce oil in the fashion the biofuel producers desire, naturally occurring types of algae can contaminate a body of water or production facility, and starve biofuel algae of precious resources.

Harvesting the naturally-produced oils also presents some issues for algal biofuel production.  The single-celled organism must in some way be broken to harvest the oil, which requires a process to either crush its cell walls, dissolve them with a volatile chemical, or pop them with sudden changes in pressure or salinity. Each method presents technical challenges, and adds to the already high monetary cost of biofuels processed from algae. 

Still, even with these challenges taken into consideration, biofuel algae’s natural advantages look to make it one of the foremost players in the burgeoning clean energy market.

Related articles:
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Algae Biofuels Summit Planned

Photo courtesy of IGB