Australian researchers say saltwater algae biodiesel production is at parity with petroleum diesel costs; commercial-scaling is all that is needed March 2009

In Australia, researchers at the national science organization, CSIRO, have concluded that the cost of saltwater algae production is now, based on current science, lower than the cost of diesel from fossil crude oil. In the study, the researchers focused on maximizing the value of biodiesel in economic and carbon terms by co-locating algae production with a power source - for power generation purposes more than CO2 capture.

The full report cautions that translating science into continuous commercial-scale production has not yet been achieved with algae, but also pointed out that algae farms can create up to 37 jobs per 1,000 acres in algae production, and determined that a plant of that size could be economically feasible.

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By: Jim Lane