[The Vector] Plan to Combine Biofuel and Carbon Capture Technologies

A Canadian research council has backed plans for a 50,000 liter algae-based biofuel plant in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a C$5 million grant. The biofuel project aims to identify strains of algae that are already acclimatised to the local environment, making them easier to grow and less likely to cause ecological problems should they be accidentally released.

The Canadian National Research Council Institute for Marine Biosciences in Halifax has joined forces with the US Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.  Together with commercial partner Carbon2Algae, the partners plan to develop photobioreactors off the back of the algae-to-fuel project that could capture CO2 from coal-fired power plants.

“With little more than water and carbon dioxide, algae can harvest sunlight and turn it into energy that could eventually be used to create jet fuel,” says Stephen O’Leary, a researcher at the Halifax Institute working on the project. He predicts commercial production of algal biofuels will be feasible in “another five to 10 years”.