Algae Biofuel Project In Europe Moves Ahead With First Biomass Crop In Spain  

The Huffington Post has an article on the ever elusive quest to produce biofuel from algae - Algae Biofuel Project In Europe Moves Ahead With First Biomass Crop At Spain Site.

A European Union-backed project to produce biofuels from algae moved a step forward on Thursday by producing its first crop of algae biomass at its site in southern Spain, the main company behind the scheme said on Thursday. The "All-gas" project will cultivate fast-growing micro-algae by using the nutrients in wastewater and then by further processes generate biomethane which can be captured and used in transport fuel. The biomass obtained from the algae crop showed high energy potential with a methane production capacity of 200-300 litres of gas per kilogram of biomass processed, water company FCC Aqualia said. ...

However, development is still at a very early stage, there is no large-scale production in Europe and, along with the progress announced on Thursday, FCC Aquilia has also ruled out some of its earlier ideas for producing biodiesel after it proved unsustainable. Experts say costs must be cut dramatically to make production commercially viable and the U.S. National Research Council has said the technology only had the potential to generate a tiny percentage of U.S. transport needs and would need to use enormous quantities of water to do so. ...

In 2009, Exxon Mobil Corp. said it would invest $600 million to develop algae-derived biofuels within a decade. It has already invested more than $100 million but has failed to produce economically viable results after four years' work.