Scientists at National Research Council Canada are looking for the ways for growing algae on an industrial scale to produce aviation fuels. According to Patrick McGinn, the project lead, algae-based biofuel technologies hold a great promise for their use in aviation industry. He added that though algae are produced in a large scale in some countries for high-value products, commercial scale algae for biofuels has not yet been done, as the challenge ahead is the production in a cheap and efficient manner. McGinn also opines that it may take another 25 years for the successful use of algae oil as a biofuel.<\/p>\n
Scientists at McGinn\u2019s lab grow algae collected from the Maritimes, southern Ontario and Alberta in a climate-controlled unit that resembles a large refrigerator. The samples are from diverse locations which include ocean, ponds, lakes and even wastewater treatment plants.\u00a0“We look for strains that produce copious amounts of oil while they are growing rapidly or have the potential to produce a lot of oil if they are stressed in certain ways,” he said. They are also working on using algae for capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n