Japanese government to fund algae biofuels research

The Japanese government will fund a joint project that aims to conduct research into an algae biofuel programme.

US-based energy extraction company OriginOil and the Research Institute of Tsukuba Biotech (RITB) have confirmed the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries grant will go towards building 1-ac sites for the production of biofuels using algae.

OriginOil will provide algae harvesting technology as part of the MoU signed with the RITB.

Dr Takaaki Maekawa of the RITB has been quoted as saying that ‘the Ministry has approved funding for two initial sites, each more than an acre in size. One is planned to be situated near Narita International Airport and the other in Fukushima, which is site of the March 2011 nuclear accident’.

As covered in Biofuels International’s sister publication Bioenergy Insight in August, Japan is ramping up its participation in renewable energy production following the Fukushima disaster after a combined earthquake and tsunami took down three nuclear reactors.