(Notícia em Inglês)
The cost of farming algae as a biofuel must be cut by about 90 per cent if it is to become commercially viable and reduce pressure on food prices, according to research by Dutch scientists.
Major companies including oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp Finnish refiner Neste Oil and Dutch vitamin maker DSM are investing in algae production technology in order to develop biofuel.
It could eventually help ease demand and price pressures on food crops that also are used to produce biofuel, such as palm oil.
The oil content in algae ranges from 20 to 60 per cent, which means that between 20,000 and 80,000 litres of oil can be produced per hectare of algae a year, according to Wageningen University research. By comparison, a hectare of palm oil plantation produces about 6,000 litres of oil per year.
But the cost of production of biofuel from algae is 10 times the cost of palm oil-derived biofuel, said Rene Wijffels, a professor at Wageningen who is also scientific director at an experimental algae farm run by several scientists at the university.
dawn.com»
Major companies including oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp Finnish refiner Neste Oil and Dutch vitamin maker DSM are investing in algae production technology in order to develop biofuel.
It could eventually help ease demand and price pressures on food crops that also are used to produce biofuel, such as palm oil.
The oil content in algae ranges from 20 to 60 per cent, which means that between 20,000 and 80,000 litres of oil can be produced per hectare of algae a year, according to Wageningen University research. By comparison, a hectare of palm oil plantation produces about 6,000 litres of oil per year.
But the cost of production of biofuel from algae is 10 times the cost of palm oil-derived biofuel, said Rene Wijffels, a professor at Wageningen who is also scientific director at an experimental algae farm run by several scientists at the university.
dawn.com»