Algae can be used to obtain a biofuel with chemical properties identical to those of automotive gas. In Spain, the first biomethane-powered cars are already on the road, while in Italy appropriate regulations are still lacking.
Algae? Excellent for cosmetics, particularly for combating the formation of free radicals, delicious in the kitchen, as Eastern tradition shows, and useful for the production of everyday objects such as mattresses, sheets of paper and lamps. Over the past decade, however, an additional possible use for these naturally simple organisms has been emerging with increasing frequency. Algae, when properly treated, become a biofuel that, in southern Spain, has already begun to power vehicles.
The conversion of algae into fuel takes place following cultivation in water basins in which the plants absorb the CO2 released by household waste. A process not entirely unlike what was recently presented by the Gruppo industriale Cap which, in partnership with Gruppo FCA (Fiat-Chrysler), produced the first genuine "zero-kilometre" biomethane for motor vehicles, made using sludge and wastewater from the metropolitan city of Milan. In the case of algae, the state of the art in conversion belongs to Spanish company Aqualia which, in the south of the Iberian peninsula, obtained its first harvest in 2013, refining year by year the cultivation methods and technologies until achieving a biofuel with the same chemical properties as extracted methane.
The biomethane produced at the Spanish facilities of El Torno Chiclana, in Andalusia, is virtually identical to the automotive gas ordinarily burned by the engines of bifuel vehicles. It can therefore be used in methane-powered cars without any technical adjustment — that is, without any modification to the engine or other mechanical components. The plant, which forms part of the All-gas project research programme, supplies fuel on a steady basis to a fleet of Volkswagen UP! cars engaged in various promotional tours across the country.
As well as from algae, biomethane can be obtained by treating the gases generated by various types of biomass, such as the wet fraction of municipal solid waste, sludge, agricultural waste and animal manure from livestock farms. Several projects exist in Italy on the subject, first and foremost, as mentioned, that of the Gruppo industriale Cap, which makes use of sludge and wastewater from the metropolitan city of Milan. To date, however, due to the lack of appropriate regulations, biomethane cannot be fed into the distribution network. It can only be used… by the producer itself! A legislative "vacuum" that clips the wings of manufacturers — for example Fiat, long at the forefront of promoting this fuel — as well as of an industrial sector capable of fuelling two million vehicles a year, roughly twice the size of the current methane-powered vehicle fleet. An opportunity not to be missed, particularly given that other European countries — Sweden and the Netherlands, for example — have been exploiting biomethane for years, while France and Germany have passed legislation favourable to its production. Italy is falling behind.