Many in the industry are watching developments in alternative fuels to reduce costs without sacrificing performance
With Australia’s road transport sector still heavily reliant on diesel fuel sourced from crude oil, many in the industry are watching developments in alternative fuels, as they seek to reduce costs without sacrificing performance.
While there is plenty of work going into LNG and CNG as an alternative, 90 scientists, economists, ocean engineers, biologists and policy makers from around the globe met in Denmark to discuss the use of algae as a replacement for crude oil.
Dr Jonathon Trent, Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, says algae is the source of most of the current crude oil production, and can be used to supplement existing oil stocks.
“The oil that we now get form land crops like rape seed is about 160 gallons per acre per year, soy is about 50 gallons per acre per year,” Trentt says.
“Algae would produce on the order of 2000 gallons per acre per year… the problem is we don’t know how to grow them, to grow them in copious amounts.”
He says algae is also beneficial because once the oil has been removed the remainder can be used for other applications, including fertiliser.
Trent says a replacement for fossil fuels needs to be identified within 10 years, to avoid a risk of fuel shortages.