Demand for renewable energy is steadily increasing, and biomass, as a basis for bioenergy production, offers a very promising approach to cope with this rise in demand. Economic returns aside, biofuels address at least two of our basic ecological concerns.

How biofuels work to reduce the impact on the environment

Firstly, they offer sustainability of supply:  the fossil fuels we use are finite and will be depleted in the near future, but the resources for biofuels can regenerate over the course of a few months or years. Secondly, biofuels act to reduce climate-damaging greenhouse gases. The ultimate goal of using biofuels is to achieve CO2 neutrality. This means that in the combustion of biofuels only as much climate-damaging CO2 emissions are emitted into the atmosphere, as the plant – being the basis of the biofuel - has taken from the atmosphere during its growth.
Yet substituting crude oil supply with biofuel initially seems to exacerbate certain existing conflicts between climate protection and the protection of water, soil and biodiversity: competition over cultivated land will still exist whether it be for either energy plant growth or for the production of agricultural foodstuffs. Consequently, according to the current development status, more biomass and bioenergy means the cultivation of so-called energy plants requiring a growing proportion of land which has up till now been used for farming. In fact, highly-productive microalgae can be cultivated on smaller areas formerly unsuitable for growth and this biomass can be efficiently converted into fuels or platform chemicals. This technology makes a practical contribution to the friendly and resource-efficient handling of the environment, and offers clear economic potential at the same time.

Leaders in our field

According to New Scientist Prof. Dr. Laurenz Thomsen from the Phytolution’s team succeeded in 2004 for the first time in the world in converting microalgae biomass into biodiesel. Since then, Phytolutions has consistently remained at the forefront of this technology.