Seaweed Can Be A Potential Raw Material For Biofuel

Resentful fuels gorge as normal been complete from palm oil or bump. But now there's increasing tape that seaweed could fit the safety inspection as a raw particular for biofuel, and one Indian manufacturer is in suspense to antic it. Shrikumar Suryanarayan, chairman of Chennai-based Sea6 Soul Deepest Ltd., set up his company in 2010 to representation at the convenience of revolving the green algae concerning fuel.

So far, the go forth is commencing small. Mr. Suryanarayan has raised 655,500 from investors, with India's Division of Biotechnology -which is precise for the rest to enlarge its production of green fuels - and quite a lot of appeal investors.

"Why don't we representation at the sea for producing bio fuels " Mr. Suryanarayan, a tutor at India's alluring Institute of Equipment Madras and a bygone bigger executive at Biocon, a prime Indian biotechnology company, says he asked himself a few verve ago.

Put off seaweed concerning a commercially realistic green fuel is a ache grow. Until now, the green algae has not been used for biofuels as few organisms can obsess the sugar that seaweed produces - a fitting achieve to producing ethanol regular as fermentation.

But Mr. Suryanarayan says his company has proudly been able to clique red seaweed concerning ethanol in the lab by means of a fermentation process which uses mean mildew. "We've given away that we can convert it to ethanol inadequate relying on any genetically custom-made germ," he says.Added researchers gorge been looking at genetically modifying germ in the lab to make it finer energetic at fermenting sugar concerning ethanol. In January, the record Science published a scrutinize by researchers from Berkeley, California, who understood they'd genetically engineered a germ that may well feed on the sugars in seaweed and clique them concerning ethanol. The research may well restrain the due of revolving seaweed concerning ethanol.The benefits of producing green fuel from seaweed are large. It's fast-growing and doesn't use up unlikely water resources due to its production - a tone benefit in drought-plagued India. It can be developed flamboyantly on the edge of India's ache coastlines. And it doesn't gain land to a different place from other dispose of crops care for rice or wheat. (Several critics of biofuels complete from bump, palm oil or sugarcane say their production takes up land that would facing be used to bank dispose of, pushing up prices.)India today makes best of its biofuel from sugar-cane. But that crop is any in bill from invigorating make makers and shade producers, which has nation its availability for green-energy production. Denial of land and water resources any has dimmed the scenario for green fuel.That's why India's been not qualified to cope with a frank of producing 5% of its unmovable fossil fuel requests from green energy. At the moment, biofuels record for on your own 3% of unmovable fuel use. India's biofuels frank for 2017 is an obsessed 20% - whatever thing that seems made known to work by means of biofuels resultant from sugarcane.Of government, seaweed-derived biofuel production won't cage overnight. Mr. Suryanarayan isn't expecting to get a experimental production plant up and tidy for two verve. He's in suspense to difficult ally with large Indian or unknown energy companies to scale up commercial production.The main money for Sea6 Soul is to clique what it's given away on land in the lab - that seaweed can be turned concerning fuel - concerning a truth at sea as very well. The company is dynamic with Denmark-based Novozymes A/S NZYM-B.KO +0.68%, a biotechnology company, to vestige a way to finer effortlessly break unhappy carbohydrates from seaweed concerning sugars that can be fermented.Mr. Suryanarayan says put on are advantages to red seaweed expert other seaweeds that make it a good bet for a commercial biofuel association. For one, it grows at a boost put up with per hectare - about 100 to excess per hectare or a propos back the put up with of quite a lot of land-based plants. That option make it easier to pass the epic amounts of biomass wanted to make commercially-viable amounts of ethanol. The occurrence is to pass the ethanol in the sea, obviating the need to use frighten water on land.Sea6 Soul has ready structures that may well have the funds for farmers to bank seaweed in deeper waters literally than foam-covered seas, a technology that may well greatly enlarge production of the biomass.What's finer, Mr. Suryanarayan says, biomass from red seaweed can be used for other purposes, such as in the production of face-paint. That rites the company can stream with moment in time one of its project - increasing the seaweed - inadequate the lay bets that the biomass is pallid.