ABD Group

Biodiesel is cutting edge technology being researched worldwide to supplement the world’s ever-growing energy requirements. In the wake of global damage being caused by global warming and the rising cost of crude oil, it has become imperative to research sources of “green” energy, without compromising food security or adding to an already strained environment. Biodiesel from algae has shown much potential in this regard. In South Africa, we at the Centre for water and wastewater technology are one of the pioneering groups in this field of research spanning approximately two years. Our research encompasses a full bodied approach to upstream processing from screening of algae for strain selection to optimisation of growth conditions and maximisation of lipid yields at lab scale as well as utilising a small pilot scale raceway pond (approx. 3000L capacity). Concurrently our efforts have been expanded to include work on photobioreactors and downstream processing from harvesting and lipid extraction to the conversion of oil to biodiesel and characterisation thereof, with optimisation taking place at each step. To date a culture bank of lipid producing micro-algae has been established and optimization is on-going. The research has direct relevance to Eskom with regards to using flue gas from power station as a potential source of CO₂. These ponds can be set up at power plants with substantial benefits i.e. CO₂ sequestration and biodiesel production thus reducing toxic environmental emissions and earning valuable carbon credits .

Thirst for WATER.PPS (2,7 MB)