A research team, led by Victorian Endowment for Science, Knowledge and Innovation (VESKI) Fellow Dr Gareth Forde, is undertaking a pilot scheme to see whether the ventures will be commercially viable.

Forde said he could see a point in time in the future when people would install localised algae units at home and make their own fuel.

The clean-up technology uses algae, one of the most intensive CO2 capturing species available, to remove CO2 from gas bubbled through a bioreactor to begin a cycle of photosynthesis, fermentation and extraction.

The algae use the CO2 as a source of carbon for making energy and more algae and also trap other impurities such as nitrous oxides. The water is then removed from the algae before further processing and oils can be harvested from the algae by rupturing their cells using sound waves or high pressure. Carbon dioxide that evaporates from this process is then injected back into the bioreactor.

In addition, Forde’s team is collaborating with Energetix, a division of the Victor Smorgon Group, which is working on a pilot scheme to convert the oil into biodiesel.

“We have linked in with a group which has the exclusive Australian and New Zealand licence for this technology, which was developed in the US,” said Forde.

“But a lot of research needs to be done to tighten the process, make it economically viable and suitable for Australian conditions.”

According to Forde, the technology has a broad range of applications and, in particular, could be used to capture CO2 from dirty energy sources, such as brown coal-fired electricity plants and then make products such as biodiesel from the algae. Ideally plants would be installed at power stations and carbon emitting factories to convert the CO2 rather than release it into the atmosphere.

Forde said the work is critical, in view of the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere being the highest for at least 650,000 years, and the Stern report’s findings stating that we must reduce carbon dioxide by more than 80% in the next 10–20 years to prevent profound climate change.

“On paper we have the system and it is being used on a pilot scale in the United States, so basically it could be put into use in Australia as quickly as it could be constructed,” said Forde.

“The problem is that there is currently no economic incentive to invest in this type of capital infrastructure, but that landscape could change very quickly by the introduction of a carbon tax.

“If a carbon tax of $30 per tonne or greater is introduced in Australia, this system should be immediately profitable for companies that have large amounts of carbon dioxide exhaust.”