Microalgae is passe, let’s go smaller…
Researchers at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee are developing bioreactors for bacteria growth for biofuel production. With higher growth rates than microlagae, bacteria could prove to be a more viable solution for the production of a lipid feestock. The prime challenge I envision is dewatering of the biomass, given that bacteria significantly smaller than microalage it may prove to be more costly. However, bacteria are used quite extensively for wastwater treatement so likely there will be existing dewatering solutions that can be leveraged. Read more here.