O governo Australiano investe 3.5 milhões de euros em projecto de algas

(Notícia em Inglês)
The Australian government has announced that a total of 5 million AUD (3.5 million euro) will be awarded to developing a system whereby wastewater and CO2 from fossil-fuel power plants are used to produce algae that is, in turn, used to produce biofuels and animal feed.

The funding will go towards a partnership between the government-funded Advanced Manufacturing Co-operative Research Centre (AMCRC) and engineering firm MBD Energy. MBD’s “algal synthesis” system works by injecting power station emissions into waste water, which provides the nutrients to grow specially-selected algae within a closed system.

As a animal feed, the algae contains 50-70 per cent crude protein. Feeding trials with cattle are being conducted at James Cook University, Australia.

The 3.5 million euro being provided by the Australian government through AMCRC will be matched by MBD, and the combined funds used to build a research facility at James Cook University and a commercial algal synthesiser at Tarong Power Station in south-east Queensland, Australia.

Bellona encourages all projects with a potential to produce more biomass for the future, which is needed to meet the challenge climate change.

“This project seems a good idea from a re-use of resources perspective, as it re-uses CO2 and waste-water to produce biomass in the form of algae,” explains Tone Knudsen of the Bellona Foundation.