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Fuel for thought: Could your business run on bio-oil?

Hydrobe® has developed carbon-recycling technology that will not only help large industries reduce emissions, it will also produce commercial quantities of bio-oil as a byproduct.


For billions of years plants have used photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide and water into energy stores such as lipids and sugars. This happens naturally - no carbon intensive mining or manufacturing required.



Lipids created by plants are the primary source of oil for bio-fuels manufacturing.  A long-known benefit of biofuels is they have the potential to provide a naturally occurring net zero outcome. 


Industry is catching on to the market for bio-oil as a bio-fuel feedstock. Today, the market is worth ~$2.5-3Bn and this is forecast to grow by 7-9% for the next decade at least. But what is the catch?


There are two primary challenges facing the bio-oil and bio-fuels markets. Firstly, land is a scarce resource and production competes with food crops. Secondly, solving that problem with microalgae is possible, but the process for extracting lipids from microalgae requires breaking through the tough cellulose cell wall – this means high pressure, high temperature and toxic chemicals. Not only are these processes expensive, but their energy intensity also goes a long way to negate the net zero benefit offered by plants. 


The Hydrobe® process overcomes both challenges. When located at a coal fired powered plant, a steel mill, or any other high CO2 emitting industrial asset, our process efficiently captures CO2 using microalgae which does not compete with food crops. Further, and more ground-breaking, the process uses bacteria to naturally break through the tough cellulose cell wall and convert it into simple sugars. Because this is done at atmospheric temperature and pressure, very little energy is needed. 


This has two important implications. Firstly, those sugars provide a zero-carbon emission energy source to grow microalgae cost effectively at scale. Secondly, lipids can be extracted with much less intensive methods, at atmospheric temperature and pressure. This is better for the environment and the bottom line. 


If you are ready to accelerate decarbonization and have no desire to compete with the food chain, make contact with us. We are ready to discuss how Hydrobe® can work with large scale emitters or users of bio-oil, proteins and biomass. Click here to get in touch.

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