New International Algae Biofuel Project Launched
An international project on algal biofuels named, BIOfuel From Algae Technologies (BIOFAT) is launched. The project is supported by nine partners based in seven countries and the goal is to show that ethanol, biodiesel and Bioproducts all could be produced at large scale from algae.
Using the algorefinery – a facility that can produce high-value co-products in addition to biofuels, the BIOFAT team intends to prove the potential of algae to produce biofuels in an economically and environmentally sustainable way.
Abengoa Bioenergy’s subsidiary Abengoa Bioenergia Nuevas Tecnologias (ABNT) will be the coordinator for the project. According to BIOFAT, the project will be carried out by a transnational consortium drawn from the academic, industrial and public sectors that includes the University of Florence (IT), A4F-AlgaFuel (PT), Ben-Gurion University (IL), Fotosintetica & Microbiologica (IT), Evodos (NL), AlgoSource Technologies (FR), IN SRL (IT) and Hart Energy (BE). Consortium members were selected to provide research diversity and expertise to the project.
The project will focus not only on the production of algal biofuels, but also on the demonstration of the integration of the entire value chain in the production of ethanol and biodiesel. The research process will begin with strain selection and proceed to biological optimization of the culture media, monitored algae cultivation, low energy harvesting, and finally technology integration. Training will take place on existing microalgae prototypes in Israel, Portugal and Italy, then scale up the process at a 10-hectare demonstration plant. The project is expected to last four years and will produce about 900 tons of algae annually on the 10-hectare plant.
http://domesticfuel.com/2011/05/24/biofuel-from-algae-technologies-project-launched/
