Adelaide scientists on the cusp of a biofuel breakthrough on algal biofuel project in Whyalla Associate Professor David Lewis, Associate Professor Rachel Burton and Professor Geoff Fincher pictured at the Adelaide University Wine Innovation Cluster building. Picture: Bianca De Marchi. A GROUP of Adelaide scientists is at the forefront of an international race to produce renewable biofuels from micro-algae on a commercial basis. If successful, an $8 million algal biofuel demonstration project in Whyalla, spearheaded by tiny Adelaide-based research company Muradel, is expected to be the catalyst for a major new industry in South Australia. Muradel chief technology officer Associate Professor David Lewis believes its revolutionary process will produce hundreds of millions of dollars worth of oil a year in South Australia within 20 years. The Muradel development is also expected to help spark the rejuvenation of the regional community of Whyalla and become the hub of an integrated biofuels production facility using multiple feedstocks, including agave and wheat straw, to optimise its viability. Success promises a game-changer for business in the battle against ever-rising costs and a reduction in the carbon footprint. It also offers the potential to generate byproducts such as bio-plastics and feed for livestock and aquaculture. Internationally renowned Adelaide scientist Professor Geoff Fincher is confident the world is on the cusp of an historic breakthrough as money pours into biofuel research because of the upside from achieving success. "After relying on fossil fuels for 300 years, it's running out and it seems we are witnessing an historic moment in time," he said. We've got to show leadership to slow fossil fuel use and support sustainable fuels and companies have to look seriously at their fuel costs. We could produce all the biofuel to supply at least SA in Whyalla. We recognise the potential for this is huge . . . we are at the beginning of a major new industry. The Muradel biofuels venture has reached this stage following more than 30 years of bio-prospecting for superior micro-algae strains by its Western Australian partner Murdoch University and a world technology breakthrough by University of Adelaide researcher Associate Professor Lewis. He has dramatically improved the technology to produce biofuel from micro-algae, a concept that has been around for decades but which previously used too much energy and did not provide carbon savings compared with fossil fuel equivalents. Muradel will start building Australia's first demonstration micro-algae conversion plant on the northern edge of Whyalla in the industrial estate next to One Steel in June. It will grow the micro-algae in ponds and then process it into a biofuel very similar to oil. The trial is aimed at demonstrating the viability of the technology and proving Muradel is investor-ready by the end of 2014. Muradel is then expected to become a commercial business by 2017. The catalyst for Muradel's micro-algal biofuel demonstration plant in Whyalla is a $4.4 million investment in February by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency's (ARENA) Advanced Biofuels Investment Readiness Program. Future partners in the wider Whyalla project are expected to include the newly established $32 million Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls led by director Professor Fincher. Another is AusAgave, owned by fellow South Australian Don Chambers, who has been assiduously developing an agave industry to use as a feedstock for biofuel production. "We have achieved the best production rates of oil from algae grown in open saline ponds in the world, giving our partners confidence about creating commercial quantities of clean biofuel," Associate Professor Lewis said. Micro-algae is a favoured source of alternative fuels because productivity is extremely high compared to land crops, although several other fuel sources are being considered. Muradel has progressed from a concept five years ago to demonstrating the technical and economic feasibility of producing crude oil from algae. It has operated a pilot plant near Karratha in northern Western Australia for the past two years. Associate Professor Lewis said its next hurdle is to cut the cost of producing oil from micro-algae from $9.90 a litre in its Karratha trial to less than $1 a litre at Whyalla. "We received the $4.4 million ARENA grant because we think we will get our cost of production down to less than $1 a litre," Associate Professor Lewis said. He believes the Whyalla area is ideal for micro-algae production because it has the right climate and would not be competing with grain crops for food. It is also close to the sea and industry, has a good workforce, enthusiastic leadership, good transport infrastructure and a large area of low-cost wasteland suitable for growing feedstocks. Muradel is a joint venture between the University of Adelaide, Murdoch University and SQC (linked to Aban Australia), an offspring of India's largest energy infrastructure company and the main source of private funding. If the ARENA project is successful, they plan to start forming commercial ventures to build modules to produce micro-algae and consequently oil in the Whyalla area. Associate Professor Lewis said a 750ha unit would be capable of producing 50,000 litres of diesel a week, enough to fuel a fair-sized trucking company. "I'm hopeful that we will be producing renewable fuels from micro-algae at different locations around the world within 10 years," he said. It won't replace fossil fuel, but it will supplement it. Our aim is cost-parity with fossil fuel and half the carbon footprint. The impact would be decentralised fuel supply, low-carbon fuel at a parity cost for small to medium industry. It's feasible that Qantas could use biofuel for half its fuel requirement. The second phase of the Whyalla project involves a $10 million integrated renewable energy facility involving the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls and AusAgave. It is designed to fully utilise the plant, reduce its overheads and maximise the potential by using multiple feedstocks, including micro-algae, wheat straw and agave. Under the centre's proposal, it plans to develop a program to showcase the Upper Spencer Gulf region as an integrated biofuel production facility to develop technologies than can be marketed around Australia and internationally. The integrated approach at Whyalla enables co-generation of electricity to run the biofuel plant, while the partners are also considering solar, thermal and wind energy to reduce energy costs and the carbon footprint. "Some of the largest global investors in the biofuels industry are the major oil companies, and micro-algae is favoured by many as a feedstock because it doesn't compete with food as a source like many other feedstocks," Professor Fincher said. If everything goes to plan, the partners are confident that South Australian biofuels will fuel many hundreds of thousands of trucks, planes, ships and cars in future.