Algae to power the fleets of tomorrow?

A major step towards a greener shipping and marine industry has potentially been made with the introduction of algae-based fuel to both the world's biggest navy and shipping company. Maersk, who have a global fleet of some 1,300 ships, along with the U.S Navy, have been trialling algal oil as a potential replacement for diesel and "bunker" fuel. Maersk tested the fuel, both in its pure form and mixed with conventional fuel, on one of their vessels travelling between Europe and Asia. The fuel was sourced from the U.S. Navy, who have tested 20,000 gallons of it on a decomissioned destroyer. Testing is in its early stages, but early signs are highly promising, with the transition appearing to cause little problems for existing vessels.

The algae-based fuel is synthesised at Solazyme, who are also working on the development of fuels for a number of commercial airlines. The fuel is produced in giant fermentation tanks at their plant in Riverside, Pennsylvania, whereby other non-food forms of biomass are fed to the algae to promote the production of oil. Algae is in fact a collective term for a large group of largely single-cell organisms, the individual characteristics of which can be used to produce fuels of varying properties.

It's hard to argue with the case for their introduction into the shipping and marine industry, which alone is responsible for 3-4 % of greenhouse gas emissions and consumes 350 million barrels of oil annually, when the potential benefits are an 80 % reduction in CO2. The question, which seems to be a perennial one for all forms of biomass, is one of scale-up. The company has recently purchased a new plant in Brazil, capable of producing 50 millions gallons of fuel annually. But whilst Solazyme's favoured tank-based method of producing algal fuel is currently substantially cheaper than growing algae in ponds, the overwhelming demands for cleaner, more sustainable fuels in shipping and marine applications (the U.S navy is targeting a 50 % reduction in the use of conventional fuels by 2020) are surely only achievable by handing large areas of the sea and other large bodies of water over to algae growth, the scale-up of which should see a dramatic drop in the cost of fuel production using this method, and make it highly competitive with fermentation tanks. Nonetheless, with the backing of a major shipping firm, a navy, not to mention oil giants Chevron, the endeavours of Solazyme will potentially oversee a huge step forward for the wider acceptance of cleaner, algal-based fuels.

Reference articles:

Dynamic Fuels and Solazyme Partner to supply fuel for U.S. Navy. Solazyme (link)

Cargo boat and US navy ship powered by algal oil in marine trials. The Guardian 13/01/12 (link)