UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD:SCIENTISTS IN the UK and the US have pioneered new methods in the development of algae biofuel that may help the production of it to become commercially viable.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield have created a method of producing microbubbles that allow algae particles to float to the surface of the water during the production process.

This, they believe, could make algae harvesting faster and cheaper: until now, removing water efficiently from algae has been a major obstacle.

Prof Will Zimmerman’s team, who led the research and built on earlier work in this field, found a method that uses 1,000 times less energy than the previous one and can be done at much lower cost.

In the US meanwhile, researchers at the Bio Architecture Lab in Berkeley, California have created a genetically engineered microbe that breaks down sugars found in seaweed and algae and converts it into biofuel.