Biofuels / The Future of Energy Security

Energy security concerns could indeed play a significant role in driving biofuel growth in 2025 and beyond, though the extent depends on a mix of geopolitical, economic, and technological factors. Let’s break it down.

Energy security—reducing reliance on volatile fossil fuel imports, especially from politically unstable regions—remains a priority for many nations. Biofuels, derived from renewable sources like crops, waste, or algae, offer a domestic alternative that can slot into existing infrastructure (e.g., ethanol blends in gasoline or biodiesel in diesel engines). In 2025, with global tensions still simmering—think Russia-Ukraine, Middle East uncertainties, or OPEC maneuvering—countries might lean harder into biofuels to hedge against supply disruptions. The U.S., for instance, already produces over 15 billion gallons of ethanol annually, largely for this reason, and Europe’s been pushing biodiesel to cut Russian oil dependence post-2022.

Economics will be a big driver too. Oil prices are notoriously unpredictable, but if they spike again (say, Brent crude topping $100/barrel due to a crisis), biofuels become more competitive, especially if governments keep subsidizing them. The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard and EU’s Green Deal are examples of policies that could juice demand. Plus, next-gen biofuels—like cellulosic ethanol or sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)—are getting cheaper as tech improves, with companies like LanzaTech and Gevo scaling up production by 2025.

But it’s not all rosy. Biofuel growth hinges on land use trade-offs (food vs. fuel debates), feedstock availability, and carbon accounting—critics argue some biofuels barely dent emissions when you factor in production. Still, advanced biofuels from waste or algae could dodge those pitfalls, and R&D’s moving fast. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects biofuels could meet 10% of global transport fuel demand by 2030 if policies align, up from about 4% now.
Looking at 2025 specifically, expect a push where energy security paranoia peaks—think U.S., Brazil, or EU—but growth might stall in places like Asia if cheap oil floods back or if electric vehicles (EVs) steal the spotlight. My take: biofuels will grow, but they’re a bridge, not the endgame, as battery tech and hydrogen vie for the future.

Algae-based fuels are a standout in the advanced biofuels lineup—high potential, wild science, but a tough road to scale. They’re made from tiny aquatic organisms (microalgae) that grow fast, soak up CO2, and churn out lipids (oils) or carbohydrates that can be turned into fuels like biodiesel, jet fuel, or even gasoline. Here’s the deep dive.

How They Work
Growth: Algae thrive in water—fresh, salty, or even wastewater—using sunlight and CO2 via photosynthesis. They double in mass daily under ideal conditions, way faster than crops like corn or switchgrass.

Harvesting: Once grown, you extract the oils (lipids) through mechanical pressing or chemical solvents. Some strains yield up to 60% of their dry weight as oil—insane compared to soybeans at 20%.

Conversion: The oils get refined into biodiesel via transesterification (same as with plant oils) or hydroprocessed into jet fuel/gasoline. Leftover carbs can ferment into ethanol, and the biomass can become biogas or fertilizer.

Why They’re Cool
Yield: Algae can produce 10-100 times more oil per acre than traditional crops. Estimates range from 2,000 to 20,000 gallons of fuel per acre per year, vs. 50 for soybeans or 650 for palm oil.

No Farmland: They grow in ponds, bioreactors, or open water, sparing arable land for food. You can even stick them in deserts or on rooftops with the right setup.

Carbon Sink: They eat CO2—some setups pipe in emissions from power plants, cutting net emissions further.

Versatility: Outputs range from biodiesel to SAF to high-value chemicals (like omega-3s), hedging bets on markets.

The Catch
Cost: Growing, harvesting, and refining algae is pricey. Open ponds are cheap but prone to contamination; closed bioreactors are efficient but capex-heavy. Estimates peg costs at $5-10 per gallon of fuel equivalent, vs. $2-3 for fossil diesel (pre-tax).

Scale: Despite hype, production’s tiny—think millions of gallons globally vs. billions for corn ethanol. ExxonMobil and Synthetic Genomics aimed for 10,000 barrels/day by 2025, but they axed the project in 2023 after spending $350M with little to show.

Energy Input: Pumping water, controlling temperature, and drying algae can eat 30-50% of the energy you get out, though optimizing strains and systems helps.

Water: Freshwater use can be a limiter unless you lean on saltwater species or wastewater, which adds complexity.

State of Play
Players: Sapphire Energy and Algenol made waves a decade ago but stalled. Now, companies like Viridos (ex-Synthetic Genomics) and startups like Algae Systems are tweaking genetics—engineering strains for higher oil content or tougher cell walls.

Uses: Most real-world output is biodiesel or SAF. United Airlines flew an algae-blended jet fuel test in 2011, and Japan’s Euglena Co. ran a bus on algae-derived fuel in 2018.

2025 Outlook: Don’t expect a flood—production might hit a few million gallons if pilot projects like those in California or Australia scale. The IEA sees algae as a 2030+ story, needing breakthroughs in cost (target: $2/gallon) and policy (carbon pricing helps).

Future Potential
If energy security’s the driver, algae could shine in coastal nations or places with CO2-heavy industries (e.g., cement plants feeding algae farms). Pair it with cheap solar for power and genetic tweaks for yield, and you’ve got a dark horse. But for 2025, it’s still a niche bet—high upside, held back by tech and economics. Fossil fuels and EVs will outpace it short-term unless a geopolitical shock (say, oil embargo) forces a scramble.

Advanced biofuels are the next evolution beyond traditional biofuels, designed to tackle the limitations of first-generation options like corn-based ethanol or palm-oil biodiesel. They’re made from non-food feedstocks, aim for lower carbon footprints, and often use cutting-edge tech to squeeze energy out of stuff we’d otherwise toss. Here’s the rundown.

What Makes Them "Advanced"?
Feedstocks: Unlike first-gen biofuels, which rely on food crops (corn, sugarcane, soybeans), advanced biofuels use non-edible sources—think agricultural residues (corn stalks, wheat straw), forestry waste (wood chips), municipal solid waste (trash), or even algae. This sidesteps the food-vs-fuel debate and reduces land use conflicts.

Sustainability: They’re engineered to cut greenhouse gas emissions more effectively. The U.S. EPA classifies them as needing at least 50% lifecycle emissions reduction compared to fossil fuels (vs. 20% for some first-gen fuels). Some, like waste-derived fuels, can hit 80-90% reductions.

Tech: Production involves fancier processes—biochemical (enzymes breaking down cellulose) or thermochemical (gasification, pyrolysis)—to convert tough, fibrous biomass into usable fuels like ethanol, diesel, or jet fuel.

Key Types
Cellulosic Ethanol: Made from plant fibers (cellulose) in stuff like crop residues or switchgrass. It’s still ethanol, but the source isn’t edible, and the process is trickier. Companies like POET-DSM have plants running, though scaling’s been slow.

Biodiesel from Waste: Think used cooking oil or animal fats turned into diesel. It’s already in use—Neste’s renewable diesel is a big player in Europe and the U.S.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF): Drop-in jet fuel from waste oils, algae, or synthetic processes (like Fischer-Tropsch). Airlines like United are testing it, aiming for net-zero by 2050. SAF’s a hot ticket because aviation’s hard to electrify.

Biogasoline/Bio-butanol: Gasoline-like fuels from biomass or algae, with higher energy density than ethanol. Still niche, but promising.

Algae-Based Fuels: Algae grow fast, suck up CO2, and don’t need farmland. The catch? Harvesting and refining are pricey, though ExxonMobil’s been tinkering with it for years.

Why They Matter
Advanced biofuels plug into existing engines and pipelines, unlike EVs or hydrogen, which need new infrastructure. They’re a practical fix for heavy transport—trucks, planes, ships—where batteries still suck. Plus, they can use waste, turning a disposal problem into an energy win. The IEA says they could supply 60% of biofuel demand by 2030 if tech and policy click.
Challenges
Cost: Breaking down cellulose or scaling algae isn’t cheap yet. First-gen ethanol’s simpler and still dominates (e.g., 90% of U.S. biofuel is corn-based).

Scale: Production’s growing—global capacity hit 6 billion liters in 2023 per the IEA—but it’s a drop compared to the 100+ billion liters of traditional biofuels.

Policy: Subsidies and mandates (like the U.S. RFS or EU RED III) are key. Without them, fossil fuels win on price.

THIRD GENERATION BIOFUELS FROM ALGAE

THIRD GENERATION BIOFUELS FROM ALGAE

Croatian Center of Renewable Energy Sources (CCRES) have a new technology with major potential to contribute to the fight against climate change.As with all new technologies, careful consideration of potential impacts on the environment and human health is important.

The international community has acknowledges that global warming needs to be kept below 2˙C (3,6˙F) compared with the pre industrial temperature in order to prevent dangerous climate change.This will require significant reductions in the world´s emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHG) over the coming decades.CCRES have one of the technologies that can help to achieve this.

The EU, which is responsible for around 11% of global GHG emissions today, has put in place binding legislation to reduce its emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020.Europe is also offering to scale up this reduction to 30% if other major economies in the developed and developing world´s agree to undertake their fair share of a global reduction effort.

This is why the EU must support alternative fuels, in particular biofuels, with the triple objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, diversifying fuel supply and developing longterm replacements for fossil fuels.

Third generation biofuels from algae will have an important role to play as soon as they are ready for the market. They should be more sustainable, boasting both a lower enviromental impact and lower costs.Biofuels must become a commercial and competitive product using the broadest range possible of raw materials from both Nord and South Europe.

Biofuels from algae have a big role to reduce CO2 emmisions.

The sustainability of algae biofuels and their potential impacts on other sectors, including land use, are will remain critical issues.Algae biofuels provide an important contribution towards climate change mitigation and security of supply.They are only part of the solution, and must be considered in a wider context, in which efforts are also being made to reduce transport demand, improve transport efficiency and encourage the use of environmentally friendly modes of transport.

CCRES INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

CCRES international cooperation in algae biofuels research has a number of benefits for all involved:

• working together enhances synergies between the different partners
• partners can pool financial resources, share risk and set common standards for large or relatively risky research and development project
• it speeds up the development of the clean technologies we need if we are to tackle our energy related problems
• by linking up their efforts, partners can support a wider range of energy technologies and reduce the costs of key technologies
• networking allows partners to better coordinate their energy research agendas

Over the years, CCRES has build up strong and lasting research cooperation partnerships on specific energy topics with partner organizations.

Zeljko Serdar

President & CEO

Croatian Center of Renewable Energy Sources (CCRES)

CCRES Algae Project Q&A

 CCRES ALGAE

CCRES Algae Project
Q&A

See answers to common questions about growing algae for biofuel production.

    Algae’s potential
    What makes algae a better alternative fuel feedstock than cellulosic feedstocks, such as switchgrass or miscanthus?
    What transportation fuels can algae produce?
    How much fuel can algae produce?
    Where could this type of algae grow?
    What can you do with material derived from algae production not used for fuel?

    Economics
    How much would a gallon of algae-based transportation fuel cost if it were available at a service station today?
    What can accelerate the commercial availability of algae biofuel?

    Environment
    How will algae-based transportation fuels impact greenhouse gas emissions?
    Is the process capable of being replicated at the local level to increase energy efficiency and promote low-energy overhead?

    Security
    Can algae-based fuels be used in developing countries to help them bypass fossil fuel dependence?

CCRES ALGAE

Q: What makes algae a better alternative fuel feedstock than cellulosic feedstocks, such as switchgrass or miscanthus?

    A: Large-scale production of resource-intensive plants, like switchgrass or miscanthus, requires a substantial amount of fertile land, fresh water, and petroleum-based fertilizer to grow. The fuel derived is ethanol, a lower-energy fuel not compatible with the infrastructure now used to transport, refine, and deliver liquid fuels, like gasoline and diesel.

    Conversely, algae can produce hydrocarbons capable of being converted directly into actual gasoline or diesel fuel, which can be transported and delivered to market using the existing refinery infrastructure.


Q: What transportation fuels can algae produce?
    A: Algae produce a variety of fuel and fuel precursor molecules, including triglycerides and fatty acids that can be converted to biodiesel, as well as lipids and isoprenoids that can be directly converted to actual gasoline and traditional diesel fuel. Algae can also be used to produce hydrogen or biomass, which can then be digested into methane.

Q: How much fuel can algae produce?

    A: The United States consumes 140 billion gallons per year of liquid fuel. Algae can produce 3,000 gallons of liquid fuel per acre in a year, so it would take 45 million acres of algae to provide 100% of our liquid fuel requirements.

    For comparison, in 2008 the United States had 90 million acres of corn and 67 million acres of soybeans in production. So growing 45 million acres of algae, while challenging, is certainly possible.


Q: Where could this type of algae grow?

    A: Algae perform best under consistent warm temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees. Climates with plenty of sunshine offer optimal conditions. Ideal Croatian locations include many of the southern and southwestern areas, such as Dalmatia,(including Dalmatian hinterland ).

CCRES ALGAE

Q: What can you do with material derived from algae production not used for fuel?

    A: Production of 140 billion gallons of fuel from algae would also yield about 1 trillion pounds of protein. Since algae-produced protein is very high quality, this protein could be used to feed livestock, chicken, or fish. Presently, all livestock in this country consume about 770 billion pounds of protein per year.


Q: How much would a gallon of algae-based transportation fuel cost if it were available at a service station today?

    A: Today, the cost would be relatively expensive. Additional investment in research is needed to further refine and enhance the algae strains that generate such fuels. Also, more infrastructure needs to be developed to achieve the necessary economies of scale that will come with large-scale commercial production. Once overall efficiency increases, the cost of producing a gallon of gasoline from algae will dramatically reduce.


Q: What can accelerate the commercial availability of algae biofuel?

    A: As viable and potentially transformational as algae-based transportation fuels have already proven, we need a much better knowledge base on algae at the microbial level. We also need to build on this platform to develop the tools and train the next generation of scientists that will help usher in the age of accessible, affordable, and sustainable fuels made from algae. That is a central component of the Croatian Center for Algae Biofuels (CCRES Algae Project).

CCRES ALGAE

Q: How will algae-based transportation fuels impact greenhouse gas emissions?

    A: Production of alternative transportation fuels from algae will help reduce the amount of CO2 in the environment. Algae provide a carbon-neutral fuel because they consume more CO2 than is ultimately released into the atmosphere when algae-based fuel burns. The amount of carbon removed from the environment will depend on the number of algae farms built and the efficiency with which algae can be modified to convert CO2 to fuel products. Eventually, algae farms will likely be located adjacent to CO2 producing facilities, like power plants, resulting in potentially significant CO2 sequestration benefits.


Q: Is the process capable of being replicated at the local level to increase energy efficiency and promote low-energy overhead?

    A: Absolutely. There are huge advantages to locating algae farms near urban centers. The algae consume industrial waste and contaminants, which are usually found in higher concentrations near cities. A perfect location is near a power plant, where the algae can consume flue gas and other waste, or near a wastewater treatment plant where the algae could consume significant amounts of nitrates and phosphates from the waste stream. This could result in cleaner effluent discharge, and perhaps eventually create “new” sources of non-potable water for industrial or agricultural use.


Q: Could algae-based fuels be used in developing countries to help them bypass fossil fuel dependence?

    A: Algae-based fuels (and the protein byproducts derived from their production) definitely have the potential to positively impact developing countries. The requirements for farming algae are fairly straightforward and can be done almost anywhere in the world with an adequate supply of sunshine. In Africa, for example, millions of algae acres could be farmed in its less-populated regions, resulting in a reduced dependence on foreign oil and a reliable and sustainable energy supply.

 

CCRES ALGAE PROJECT

part of 

Croatian Center of Renewable Energy Sources (CCRES)

Way to Create Biofuels

Way to Create Biofuels

Is there a new path to biofuels hiding in a handful of dirt? 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) biologist Steve Singer leads a group that wants to find out. They’re exploring whether a common soil bacterium can be engineered to produce liquid transportation fuels much more efficiently than the ways in which advanced biofuels are made today.

The scientists are working with a bacterium called Ralstonia eutropha. It naturally uses hydrogen as an energy source to convert CO2 into various organic compounds.

The group hopes to capitalize on the bacteria’s capabilities and tweak it to produce advanced biofuels that are drop-in replacements for diesel and jet fuel. The process would be powered only by hydrogen and electricity from renewable sources such as solar or wind.

The goal is a biofuel—or electrofuel, as this new approach is called—that doesn’t require photosynthesis.

Why is this important? Most methods used to produce advanced biofuels, such as from biomass and algae, rely on photosynthesis. But it turns out that photosynthesis isn’t very efficient when it comes to making biofuel. Energy is lost as photons from the sun are converted to stored chemical energy in a plant, which is then converted to a fuel.

“We’re after a more direct way,” says Singer, who holds appointments with Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division and with the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a multi-institutional partnership led by Berkeley Lab.

“We want to bypass photosynthesis by using a microbe that uses hydrogen and electricity to convert CO2 into a fuel,” he adds.

Widespread use of electrofuels would also reduce demands for land, water, and fertilizer that are traditionally required to produce biofuels.

Berkeley Lab’s $3.4 million electrofuel project was funded in 2010 by DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program, which focuses on “high risk, high payoff concepts—technologies promising genuine transformation in the ways we generate, store and utilize energy.”

That pretty much describes electrofuels. ARPA-E estimates the technology has the potential to be ten times more efficient than current biofuel production methods. But electrofuels are currently confined to lab-scale tests. A lot of obstacles must be overcome before you’ll see it at the pump.

Fortunately, research is underway. The Berkeley Lab project is one of thirteen electrofuel projects sponsored by ARPA-E. And earlier this year, ARPA-E issued a request for information focused on the commercialization of the technology.

Singer’s group includes scientists from Virginia-based Logos Technologies and the University of California at Berkeley. The project’s co-principal investigators are Harry Beller, Swapnil Chhabra, and Nathan Hillson, who are also with Berkeley Lab and JBEI; Chris Chang, a UC Berkeley chemist and a faculty scientist with Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division; and Dan MacEachran of Logos Technologies.

The scientists chose to work with R. eutropha because the bacterium is well understood and it’s already used industrially to make bioplastics.

They’re creating engineered strains of the bacterium at JBEI, all aimed at improving its ability to produce hydrocarbons. This work involves re-routing metabolic pathways in the bacteria. It also involves adding pathways from other microorganisms, such as a pathway engineered in Escherichia coli to produce medium-chain methyl ketones, which are naturally occurring compounds that have cetane numbers similar to those of typical diesel fuel.

The group is also pursuing two parallel paths to further boost production.

In the first approach, Logos Technologies is developing a two-liter bioelectrochemical reactor, which is a conventional fermentation vessel fitted with electrodes. The vessel starts with a mixture of bacteria, CO2, and water. Electricity splits the water into oxygen and hydrogen. The bacteria then use energy from the hydrogen to wrest carbon from CO2 and convert it to hydrocarbons, which migrate to the water’s surface. The scientists hope to skim the first batch of biofuel from the bioreactor in about one year.

In the second approach, the scientists want to transform the bacteria into self-reliant, biofuel-making machines. With help from Chris Chang, they’re developing ways to tether electrocatalysts to the bacteria’s surface. These catalysts use electricity to generate hydrogen in the presence of water.

The idea is to give the bacteria the ability to produce much of their own energy source. If the approach works, the only ingredients the bacteria will need to produce biofuel would be CO2, electricity, and water.

The scientists are now developing ways to attach these catalysts to electrodes and to the surface of the bacteria.

“We’re at the proof-of-principle stage in many ways with this research, but the concept has a lot of potential, so we’re eager to see where we can take this,” says Singer.

CCRES

 special thanks to 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Croatian Center of Renewable Energy Sources (CCRES)

CCRES - ALGAE AND BIOFUEL

 

CROATIAN CENTER of RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES 

(CCRES)

 

 ALGAE AND BIOFUEL

 

Algae: An Important Source for Making Biofuels

Biofuels are the alternative fuels like ethanol, butanol, biodiesel, methane and others obtained from the biomass. Biomasses are the wasted materials obtained from the plants, animals and human beings. With the increasing prices of the crude oil and importance of achieving self-reliance in energy and growing concern for the environment alternative fuels are receiving more government and public attention.

The government of US has set the targets for using of 36 billion gallons of biofuels by the year 2022 as a result most of the gasoline sold here is mixed with ethanol. Similarly, biodiesel mixed with petroleum diesel is found to create lesser pollution without affecting the performance of the engines. Methane gas is also increasingly used for the production of electricity and also driving the vehicles. Ethanol, biodiesel, and methane are all biofuels obtained from biomass like wasted crops, crops containing sugar, vegetable oil etc.

Due to increasing demands of the biofuels, many farmers are now tempted to raise the crops that would yield biofuels instead of the food crops. This leads to misuse of limited resources available in the form energy, fertilizers and pesticides. In some parts of the world large areas of forests have been cut down to grow sugarcane for ethanol and soybeans and palm-oil tress for making biodiesel. US government is making efforts to make sure the farming for biomass materials does not competes with the farming of food crops and that the farming of biomass would require lesser fertilizers and pesticides.

Algae used as Biomass

One of the most important promising sources of biofuels is algae. Algae are single celled (most of them) microorganisms that grow in salt water, fresh water and even in contaminated water. Algae can grow in sea, rivers, ponds, and also on land not suitable for production. Like other plants, algae also absorb energy from the sun in the presence of atmospheric carbon dioxide by the process called photosynthesis. Just like other wasted plants and crops, algae also carry energy and it can be used as an important biomass material. There are more than 65,000 known species of algae having different colors like green, red, brown and blue-green that offer wide range of options for obtaining the biofuels from them.

Algae keep growing extensively in the nature and it generates lots of waste that could even create problems of disposal. Since algae carries energy, it can be used as an important source of alternative or renewable energy since algae is available in abundant quantities that can last forever. Algae can be used as the biomass materials to obtain various biofuels. Various colonies of algae can be considered to be small biological factories containing lots of energy.

Biofuels from Obtained from Algae

Like the wastes from the plants, the algae can also be used as the biomass to produce various types of biofuels. One of the most popular types of biofuels, biodiesel, is obtained from the vegetable oil. The same biodiesel can also be obtained from algae oil. The biodiesel from algae can be mixed with the petroleum diesel and used for the running of the vehicles. It can also be used as the fuel for jets, airplanes, refineries, and pipelines. The biodiesel obtained from algae can be readily used with automobile and jet engines without the need to make any modifications in the engine. It meets all the specifications of the petroleum diesel fuel.

The algae biomass can also be used for making ethanol and butanol biofuels, which are type of alcohols. Butanol is considered to have more efficiency than ethanol and it is obtained from dried algae that act as a biomass. The carbohydrates extracted from algae are converted into natural sugars, which are then converted into butyric, lactic and acetic acids by the process of fermentation. Further fermentation of butyric acid is carried out to produce butanol.

The biomass obtained from algae can also be used to produce biogas that contains methane and carbon dioxide. Methane is an important component of natural gas, so this biogas can be used just like the natural gas for producing heating effect and also to produce electricity.

Advantages of using Algae as Biomass

One of the important advantages of algae it that it can be grown in almost any type of water: salt, fresh, and even contaminated water. It can be grown in vast sea and river water, small rain water ponds and even commercial or domestic manmade ponds. It can also be grown on non-arable unproductive lands increasing the utility of waste lands.

Another important advantage of growing algae for producing biofuels is that it does not displace the farmland used for growing the food crops. The farmers using various resources for producing biodiesel instead of the food crops has been one of the major concerns for the government, algae helps solving this tricky problem.

Algae have the potential to yield 30 times more energy than the crops grown on land, which are currently being used to produce the biofuels. This would further encourage the use of algae for producing biofuels and land for producing food crops.

Another important advantage of algae is that it uses carbon dioxide for its growth. Thus the pollution causing carbon dioxide produced from the other sources can be utilized to grow algae, which helps keeping the environment cleaner. 

CCRES 

special thanks to   

Escapeartist, Inc

 CROATIAN CENTER of RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES 

(CCRES)