Sustainable excretable biofuels process design and optimisation

Biofuels produced from algae constitute an outstanding alternative to replace conventional fossil fuels and diversify sustainable energy sources. Because solar energy and atmospheric carbon dioxide are the direct energy and carbon source for biofuel production, no additional carbon dioxide is released to the environment when burning these fuels. Therefore, algae based biofuel production processes are a match for circular economy and are characterised by industrial sustainability.

In order to facilitate the commercialisation of environmentally friendly biofuels, this proposal aims to determine the sustainable excretable biofuels production process routes for transportation energy supply. In particular, three excretable biofuels, biohydrogen (clean transport fuel), biobutanol (replacement of gasoline) and biohydrocarbon (alternative of diesel), will be selected due to their estimated huge global demand in near future. Throughout this project, advanced bioprocess simulation and optimisation methodologies for the economic and environmental assessment of excretable biofuels will be constructed to resolve this challenge. Moreover, the strategies developed in my proposed research can be applied not only to biofuel production, but also to other future bioprocesses.

The impact of this project can be categorised into three aspects, which are society, economy, and people.

Society: The development, industrialisation, and commercial use of sustainable biofuels as a replacement of traditional non-renewable energy sources has the potential to make substantial benefits to the public health and general social welfare.

As biofuels are synthesised through microalgae photosynthesis where solar energy and atmospheric carbon dioxide are the direct energy and carbon source, respectively, no additional carbon dioxide is realised to the environment when burning these fuels. Therefore, biofuels can significantly mitigate the greenhouse effects which have been demonstrated to severely threat public health and life quality (e.g. causing vascular diseases, infectious diseases, and heat-related deaths).

Furthermore, as the project aims to conduct a detailed environmental and economical assessment on sustainable excretable biofuels production, its research outcomes can provide clear directions on the development of environmental and energy policies which are major concerns of societal issues and governmental institutions.

Economy: The current project focuses on the commercialisation of renewable biofuels, which has great potential to affect the national energy supply market, in particular transportation energy. At this moment, it has been reported that the UK continues increasing the amount of imported oil and natural gas from the Middle East and Russia due to its ever-dwindling fossil fuel reserves. Therefore, by replacing imported fuels with biofuels, the UK will be benefited financially and its national energy market risk will be ameliorated.

In addition, due to the advantages of biofuels (e.g. environmental friendliness, reducing greenhouse effects), local energy markets inside the UK will be developed resulting in significant wealth creation and inward investment.

People: A variety of events will be held in the host institution throughout the project for both public and university students. For the public, introductory presentations and open discussions can be conducted as the current project can provide detailed information regarding the impact of biofuels production process on the environment. This is because environmental impact is one of the major public concerns arising from the development of new processes and technologies.