Is Cost Effecient Algae Biodiesel Still Years Away?
Although the cost of producing algae biodiesel has been dropping, a cost effecient method may still be years away. The costs have steadily dropped over the past two decades from hundreds of dollar for each gallon to tens of dollars. But, European researchers say that it still may take at least another decade to get the final production costs close to costs of producing conventional fuels.
The Science journal, recently published an article from two European researchers. The article outlines the resources that are needed to make the fuel economically feasible in the European markets in a decade. According to fuel consumption calculations based on European consumption, over 2 billion gallons of biodiesel will have to be replaced.
In order to supply the European market, the algae yields would have to exceed 4,400 gallons of fuel for each acre every year. That would require around 22 million acres of land, an area that is as large as Portugal. In comparison, just one acre of palm oil will yield around 600 gallons for each acre and corn will yield around 270 gallons for each acre of land.
By examining all of the technologies that exist today and modeling various commercial scale plants, they determined that it would tak at least a decade for algae biodiesel to be produced economically in Europe. However, there are some good signs that the industry is reaching the necessary scale they need to become competitive.
Some algae players claim that they are in the range of producing the target goal of 4,4000 gallons per acre. Companies like OriginOil, Solix and Solazyme say they are on their way to producing between 2,000 and 5,000 gallons per acre. And, Solazyme recently announced that they delivered 20,000 gallons to the U.S. Navy. They have now signed a contract to provide 150,000 more gallons to the Navy.