New Sources Of Biofuel To Take Pressure Off Traditional Crops

“Salt-loving algae could be the key to the successful development of biofuels as well as being an efficient means of recycling atmospheric carbon dioxide,” Professor John Cushman of the University of Nevada told the Society for General Microbiology meeting at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Sept. 10.

The current major limitation of biofuel production is the lack of adequate feedstocks, soybeans and corn, for biodiesel and ethanol production, respectively. Halophytic (salt-loving) micro-algae can be grown on marginal lands with brackish or salt water unsuitable for traditional agriculture. Their growth is non-seasonal, making them 10-30 times more productive than terrestrial crops. They can be grown on municipal wastewater and have widespread potential for recycling carbon dioxide from biomass-, coal-, and gas-fired power plants.

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Tags: algal toxins, atmospheric carbon dioxide, bacterial strains, biofuels, ethanol production, general microbiology, marginal lands, micro algae, municipal wastewater, power plants, sources of biofuel, traditional agriculture, traditional crops

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 13th, 2009 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Cutting-edge Research, Innovation, Project Energy, Science Digest / Science Daily, The Food Challenge, disruptive innovation, environment, food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.