The most commonly used conversion methods – combustion of waste to produce heat or electricity; anaerobic digestion to produce methane for heat or power production etc. all are well-established and commercial technologies. A further set of conversion processes – for example, the production of liquid fuels from cellulosic materials by biological or thermochemical conversion processes, such as pyrolysis – are at earlier stages of commercialisation or still under development.

What is Micro-algae

Micro-algae are a group of unicellular or simple multicellular fast growing photosynthetic microorganisms that can conserve CO2 efficiently from different sources, including the atmosphere, industrial exhaust gases, and soluble carbonate salts. Micro-algae act as a major system for converting atmospheric CO2 into lipids under sunlight and increase the output of algal oil. The enzyme acetyl Co-A carboxylase (ACCase) from micro-algae catalyzes the key metabolic step in the synthesis of oil in algae.

With the surge in bio-based activities around the globe, a new concept called bio-refining starts to emerge. IEA Bioenergy Task 42 on Biorefineries defines biorefining as “the sustainable processing of biomass into a spectrum of marketable products and energy”. A bio-refinery combines/integrates a series of biomass conversion technologies to produce a range of products and (base-)materials, such as food, feed, chemicals, materials, oil, gas, heat and/or electricity. The concept is similar to a conventional oil-refinery where multiple petroleum products and fuels are produced.