Algae as a Feedstock for Biofuels
An Assessment of the Current Status and Potential for Algal Biofuels Production
In 2010, the IEA Advanced Motor Fuels Implementing Agreement and the IEA Bioenergy Task 39 both commissioned reports on the status and potential opportunities for Algal Biofuels. While there were substantial similarities in the findings of the two reports, each report has some unique perspectives on different aspects of the technology and the opportunities. This summary draws on both of those reports.
The Task 39 report (PDF) was written by Al Darzins and Philip Pienkos (NREL, US) and Les Edye (BioIndustry Partners, Australia). Contributions of text and figures were provided by Wade Amos, John Benemann, Eric Jarvis, John Jechura, Anelia Milbrant, Matt Ringer, Kristi Theis, and Bob Wallace.
The IEA AMF report was prepared by Karen Sikes and Ralph McGill (Sentech, Inc. US) and Van Walwijk, Martijn (Independent Researcher). The AMF authors acknowledge the support received throughout the preparation of their report from Stephen O’Leary (Research Officer) and Patrick McGinn (Scientific Leader) at the National Research Council (NRC) Canada Institute for Marine Biosciences for extensive property data on algal strains housed at the Institute’s Research Facilities and Ketch Harbour Research Facilities located in Nova Scotia, Canada and the cost sharing provided by International Energy Agency Advanced Motor Fuels Implementing Agreement member countries Canada, Finland, Japan, and United States.
