MSEP Facts & Figures Series 3: Offshore energy in the UK: renewables algal biomass1

The Marine Socio-Economics Project (MSEP) is a project funded by The Tubney Charitable Trust and coordinated by NEF (the new economics foundation) in partnership with the WWF, the MCS, the RSPB, and The Wildlife Trusts. The project aims to build socio-economic capacity and cooperation between NGOs and aid their engagement with all sectors using the marine environment.

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Over the past 30 years, the UK has produced a number of algal companies who have developed innovative approaches, although they have not always been successful commercially.

There are a small number of UK companies that are well established internationally (as either technology providers, or algal products from established species and strains). Currently (as of the end of 2013) a UK algal biotechnology industry is emerging, either through biorefining (e.g. of macroalgal biomass), or by developing customised microalgae. Hardly any commercial activity exists in downstream processing at this point (as of December 2013).1

Algae, including seaweed, are a potential source of renewable fuel (for transport, heating or electricity, including biodiesel, aviation fuel, and biogas), as well as a source of food and chemicals.2

Offshore energy in the UK: renewables algal biomassAlgal biomass has received a great deal of attention as a potential source of renewable transport fuel in recent times.

1 http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/web/FILES/Reviews/algal_scoping_study_re-port.pdf

2 1-6 http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/post-pn-384.pdf

3 http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/scientific-resources/biodi-versity/uk-biodiversity/algaevision/about-algae/index.html

4 http://www.ecology.com/2011/09/12/important-organism/

5 http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/web/FILES/Reviews/algal_scoping_study_re-port.pdf

The main distinction is between:

Macro algae Large photosynthetic marine plants divided into green (Chlorophyta), Brown (Phaeophyta) and Red (Rhodophyta) groups,3 and;

Micro algae Microscopic photosynthetic plants, without roots, stems or leaves, which produce almost half of the planets Oxygen.4 Key groups include cynanobacteria and calcifying/coralline algae.

According to the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), the following products for transportation could be derived from algae:5 ethanol, biomethane, biodiesel, kerosene, and HVO jet fuel.

It is widely reported that microalgae have advantages over first-generation biofuel crops, including higher yields, faster growth, and lower requirements for land. However, when grown in the sea, the scale and location of wild harvests

2MSEP Facts & Figures Series 3: Offshore energy in the UK: renewables algal biomass

or cultivation will need to minimise impacts on biodiversity, on other marine uses such as fishing and shipping, and on other uses of the algae (e.g. the use of seaweed for food).6

Macroalgae is currently used mainly for food, but seaweed cultivation for bioethanol and biogas is being explored in Asia, Europe, and South America, and biobutanol from macroalgae is attracting research interest and investment in the USA. The cost of production of biogas from seaweed is high recent estimates suggest that it could be 715 times more expensive than natural gas.7

Algal biofuels are at an experimental stage and are more expensive than fossil fuels. They could become more competitive as fossil fuel prices increase, although this would also increase the cost of algal fuel production through increases in the cost of building materials, energy inputs into the process or nutrients/fertiliser from fossil fuels.

Algal biofuels could be made more cost effective by extracting other valuable products from algae or incorporating their production into waste-water treatment.

In the UK, 80% of biofuels currently used are imported and it is widely believed that any significant supply of biofuels from microalgae would also rely on imports. Research efforts are focused on decreasing the cost of production, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and investigating the potential to grow algae in the UK. At a small scale, macroalgae are proposed as a means of supplying biogas in remote coastal areas such as the Western Isles of Scotland, where grid connections are poor and existing gas supplies are expensive.8 The cost of seaweed necessary to allow an economically viable process would need to be in the order of 100300 per dry tonne delivered.9

Most of the estimated 10 million tonnes of wild seaweed in the UK is found in Scotland, where the use of seaweed for energy generation is being explored. It is thought that around 130,000 to 180,000 tonnes could be sustainably harvested each year; similar to the amount currently harvested in Norway. Cultivation could increase the amount harvested dramatically.

The Crown Estate estimates that up to 1.5% of the seabed area could be used for macroalgae cultivation. This could give an annual biogas yield equivalent to around 5% of the natural gas consumed in the UK in 2009. In practice, the amount of seaweed biomass available for conversion to biogas is expected to be substantially lower, since high-value products would also need to be extracted and marketed, given the high cost of production.10

The existing microalgae industry (mainly in the USA, Australia, and Israel) produces around 10 000 tonnes of dry algae per year, mainly for dyes, fish feed, and dietary supplements. With an oil yield of 25%, typical for many algae species, this international industry would need to be scaled up at least 300 times to produce 5% of the diesel used in the UK in 2009. Therefore, commercial production of biodiesel from algae is unlikely before 2020.11

As with all biofuels, algae take up carbon dioxide while growing and release it again when the fuel is burned. They do not reduce atmospheric CO2 in isolation, but can reduce emissions where they displace fossil fuels. For microalgal biodiesel, reports present a range of estimates, from GHG emissions 80% lower than fossil diesel, to emissions 300% higher. For macroalgae, estimates are scarce. Some estimates suggest that emissions could be between 40% and almost 90% lower than natural gas.12

6 http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/post-pn-384.pdf

7 http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/post-pn-384.pdf

8 http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/post-pn-384.pdf

9 http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/media/271433/products_from_ma-rine_macro-algae_2011.pdf

10 http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/media/271433/products_from_ma-rine_macro-algae_2011.pdf

11 http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/post-pn-384.pdf

12 http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/post-pn-384.pdf

3Published by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), June 2014. www.neweconomics.org Tel: 020 7820 6300 Registered charity number 1055254.

Briefings on Marine Energy (renewable and non-renewable)

1. Offshore energy in the UK: renewables offshore wind

2. Offshore energy in the UK: non-renewables oil and gas

3. Offshore energy in the UK: an overview

4. Offshore energy in the UK: renewables algal biomass

5. Offshore energy in the UK: renewables marine energy (wave and tidal)

Series 3 was written and researched by Fernanda Balata (Researcher at NEF) and Chris Williams (Marine Socio-Economics Project Coordinator at NEF). All the data examined in this series come from the UK Government, The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), the Crown Estate, Renewable UK, OIl & Gas UK, the Chamber of Shipping or Eurostat - unless otherwise referenced.

These data sources can be found on the MSEP website: http://www.mseproject.net/data-sources