The enclosed, modular-system algae to biofuels company Algae Tec has agreed a deal with Biodiesel Industries Australia (BIA) to refine algal oil from Algae. Tec’s planned carbon capture and biofuels production facility near Sydney.
The oil will be produced from 2014 onwards at a new algae biofuels facility due to be constructed next to a 2640MW coal-fired power station in the Hunter Valley New South Wales. The deal to build the biofuel plant has already been agreed with the government-owned Macquarie Generation Company which owns the power station. Carbon dioxide emissions from the coal plant will be fed into the biomass facility where it will be converted into biodiesel in an enclosed algae growth system.
BIA was established in 2003 as Australia’s first commercial biodiesel refinery and already produces biodiesel for clients including local councils and the mining industry.
“We have long considered algae to be the Holy Grail for biofuels, so we are pleased to see this new algae to biofuels development happening just up the road at MacGen” said BIA Managing Director Andrew Hill. “BIA is playing a key role to accelerate the transition to biofuels in the region. This 50 million litre Algae.Tec deal would put us on a world-scale for biofuels refining.”
The plan to build the biofuels plant was announced by New South Wales Energy Minister Chris Hartcher at the beginning of July and received world-wide attention. Algae.Tec Executive Chairman Roger Stroud commented that the plant would offer New South Wales and Australia a new level of fuel security at a time when conventional petroleum refining capacity is diminishing in the state.
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