Aligned with the EU's ambitious renewable energy targets, the European Commission (EC) is participating in the funding of three large-scale industry-led projects aimed at demonstrating the production of algal biofuels along the whole value chain, covering strain selection to algae cultivation and production, oil extraction,
biofuel production and biofuel testing in
transportation applications.
BIOFAT is a microalgae-to-biofuel demonstration project targeted at both biodiesel and ethanol production, and will integrate the whole algae process value chain from algae optimized growth and starch and oil accumulation, to downstream biofuel production processes. CO2 from industrial fermentation will be used as a renewable carbon source.
Aqualia, the third-largest private water and wastewater company in the world, leads the consortium of the All-Gas project, consisting of seven partners and supported by a scientific advisory board to provide the knowledge and experience for this challenging endeavor.
This project will demonstrate an optimized approach to produce biofuels from algae in a sustainable manner on an industrial scale. It will integrate high quality research that has previously been undertaken at national and international levels, with both public support and with private finance.