Largest Swedish algae research project gets underway

Swedish energy company Umeå Energi is set to build an algae pilot plant in the north of the country which it is calling ‘the biggest in the Sweden’.

The algae produced from this new facility will be used as biomass to potentially biodiesel and the project will be led by Dr Francesco Gentili of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Algae will be cultivated from waste water from Umeå’s municipal sewage treatment works and from CO₂ taken from its CHP plant Dåva One.

‘It is partly thanks to this easy access to those waste products that we have the possibility to create biofuels from algae production,’ says Umeå Energi’s environmental manager Henrik Bristav. ‘We have a clearly defined environmental strategy and, by reducing CO₂ emissions at our plants while researching new biofuels, we hope to contribute further to conserving natural resources.’

Umeå Energi has been conducting research on biofuels for the past three years and this project will see four new ponds, for containment of waste water, and a new laboratory built on-site.