Private investment in seaweed research for biofuel
Valor Econômico 05/19/2009
Five million Reais to use and an original idea in their mind. This way Algae Biotecnologia, the newest company of the Ecogeo Group, intends to invest in research with Microphytes for the production of biofuels in the country. Legalized in the beginning of the year, the São Paulo headquartered company is the first one of the Brazilian private sector to invest in the production of a clean fuel from such organisms - only Petrobras and scientists from universities currently do so. The difference, in this case, is in the method of production.
Although it does not disclose details until the approval of the patent, foreseen for the next months, Algae Biotecnologia is holding conversations with two plants of São Paulo in order to develop a pilot-project in which the by-products of the sugar and alcohol sector are integrated in the production of the fuel. The idea is to use what today is still greatly disregarded - residual waters, vinasse, straw, bagasse and the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted in fermentation - and integrate them in the process, solving two problems at once: the environmental liabilities of the plant and an economically viable means of farming.Another piece of news is the use of a photobioreactor - a sort of transparent tube - for the cultivation of the microphytes. Because it is a closed system, it increases the productivity of the microphytes since it decreases the contamination rate. "It is two to three times more expensive than the open systems", such as lagoons and tanks, say Goldemberg, "but it is more controlled". In order to take the research ahead, Algae Biotecnologia will invest R$ 5 million (US$ 2.38 million), nearly R$ 3 million (US$ 1.43 million) of which from the Technological Fund (Funtec) of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), a non refundable support, and the rest from the Studies and Projects Financing Agency (Finep), the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the company's own cash. The works are currently in laboratorial phase. Should everything run as expected, Algae Biotecnologia will have a pilot-plant operating, as of next year. The expectation is that of entering into a partnership with a São Paulo plant in two years.