Aquatic Biomass in the Gasification Equation

Biomass Magazine August 2009
By Anna Austin

Utilizing a technology developed at the U.S. DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Utah-based Genifuel Corp. is working to gasify aquatic biomass into natural gas for use in pipelines and power generation.

In the world of biofuels, algae are typically associated with biodiesel production. While numerous companies are working to break barriers associated with commercial-scale algal biodiesel production, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Genifuel Corp. have embraced algae, or aquatic biomass, for a different purpose—natural gas production.

The companies are working to perfect a catalytic gasification process, which PNNL recently granted Genifuel an exclusive license for, and to develop a technique to efficiently grow and harvest aquatic biomass for use as a feedstock.

The companies think their process, which was originally developed as a technique to clean up industrial and food processing waste as an alternative to incineration, will be more efficient than other methods of gasifying biomass.

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