Phycobloom - Creating Biofuel from Algae

Written by Natasha Barrow, edited by Matthew Mccan and Caroline Babisz

Introducing our next company from the 2021 Innovator Club Cohort; Phycobloom

Founded by John and Ian, brought together through their mutual love of chasing challenges, Phycobloom is a cutting-edge clean technology start-up, aiming to revolutionise biofuel production by harnessing the power of algae.

If you’re a biofuel nerd, you may have already heard of using algae to produce biofuel before. In which case, don’t stop reading! As this one is different. If you’re a biofuel novice, I’m here bring you up to speed (after a quick lesson from John at Phycobloom):

What are Biofuels?

Biofuels are substitutes for traditional fossil fuels, for example petroleum, but they are made from biological materials, such as plants, trees or crops. Biofuels are a greener alternative to fossil fuels, because they are extracted from biological materials, which absorb carbon as they grow.

However biofuels are not as “green” as scientists originally thought. It was previously believed that biofuels (made from plants) were effectively carbon neutral, as the carbon dioxide they released when burnt, equated to the carbon dioxide absorbed as the plant grew. However, when reviewing the whole process for producing plant biofuels, it was found not to be carbon neutral, and in some cases their carbon footprint was considered worse than fossil fuels. This is because growing crops is labour intensive, which requires energy equating to carbon dioxide emissions. If you add the carbon dioxide released when biofuels burn, to the carbon dioxide emitted farming crops, they aren’t in fact carbon neutral.

Furthermore, there is the complication of clearing land for biofuel crops to grow. This process produces carbon and has detrimental effects on our already limited wildlife population. Altogether, biofuels are an alternative, but they are by no means perfect. Here’s where Phycobloom come in, with their innovative solution.

“Phycobloom use algae to produce biofuel”

What are Algae?

Algae are photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. If you go to a lake, pond or reservoir, you will usually see a green “moss” floating on the surface – that’s a type of algae. Algae is found everywhere, from the pond in your back garden, to the hair of polar bears. It’s an incredibly diverse and wide-reaching group of organisms that can sometimes form close relationships with other organisms, like fungi and lichens or even jellyfish.

The Sustainable Fuel Gap & The Solution

The “Sustainable Fuel Gap” is one of the pressing issues facing government environmental objectives today. Put simply, there isn’t enough sustainable fuel to meet the requirements of the increasingly demanding environmental initiatives. However, this is where algae could save the day.

To illustrate the Sustainable Fuel Gap further, Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, has committed to certifying all of their planes for 100% sustainable aviation fuel by the end of 2030. This doesn’t mean all their planes will run with it, however, all of their planes will be capable of running on biofuel. Today, there isn’t nearly enough biofuel, or sustainable fuel, to support the 225 aircraft in the Boeing fleet.

Algae has the potential to fill this biofuel gap. Algae don’t need much agricultural resources - they can grow anywhere and everywhere. Albeit, genetically engineered algae may have some certain requirements, but the potential is there. They require less fertilisers, and need less water than crops. Algae also doesn’t need as much space, to quote John: “From 600,000 km2 of farmland already dedicated to growing energy as we speak, 100,000 km2 dedicated to algae could fuel the entire the global aviation agency”.

If you Google algae biofuel, you will find a “graveyard of dead companies and dead projects”.

Phycobloom’s Algae: What Makes Them Different?

The truth is; the use of algae in the production of biofuels, itself, isn’t innovative.If you Google algae biofuel, you will find a “graveyard of dead companies and dead projects”. As John said, this is because “fuel is one of the hardest commodities you can create because it’s so cheap”. The process for harvesting oil from algae used to be growing them up in a tank or pond and then harvesting them. When harvested they are dried out in a centrifuge, and the cells are broken down. From the centrifuge, 10-15% of what’s left is fats, which can be converted into oil. However, often you will have to put more energy into the centrifuge than you will have extracted, in fats, from the algae, making it incredibly inefficient. In addition to this, as soon as you kill them, they will no longer be converting carbon dioxide into fat, that can be in turn made into oil. These downstream processes are a major cost driver, making the process both energy inefficient, and economically unviable.

This is where Phycobloom are different, they have ingeniously genetically engineered algae to “poop” out oil. This tackles two major challenges of the traditional algae extraction process.

Number 1: there is no need to extract the oil, as the algae is effectively doing the work for you.
Number 2: the algae can stay alive, and produce oil continuously.

Phycobloom’s algae excrete the oil, meaning it’s outside of the cell. This forms an insoluble layer on the surface, which doesn’t require biomass processing, or centrifugation. You can effectively leave them to grow “old”, using the algae through it’s lifespan.This scientific innovation, removes one of the major costs in the manufacturing of biofuel making the process economically and environmentally sustainable.

The Future of Phycobloom

Phycobloom’s biggest challenges now are centred around scaling. Scaling is a big part of any CleanTech start-up, said John, “biofuels only matter if you are producing millions and millions of tons”. They will look to develop their technology closely alongside this key consideration. They will also continue to focus on their core value; sustainability. Using the support from their investor Zero Carbon Capital to keep them focused. This value of sustainability extends beyond just their technology, they want to create a sustainable work force to encourage and challenge people to grow with Phycobloom and fight the pressing global environmental crisis.

For more from Phycobloom:

Website: https://www.phycobloom.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/phycobloom/

Email: info@phycobloom.com

“Algae deserve a second look; they can be the backbone of a clean carbon industry”

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