Mazda has announced that its research project Development of High-Density Microalgal Biofuel has been selected for the FY2026 Programme to Develop and Promote the Commercialisation of Energy Conservation Technologies to Realise a Decarbonised Society of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO).
Under the selected project, Mazda will leverage the research findings it has accumulated to date on the microalgae-derived biofuels.
Focusing on microalgae, which present minimal risk of competing with food crops or contributing to deforestation and can efficiently produce lipids in limited spaces, the Company will conduct research and development covering the entire process from cultivation through lipid extraction.
Furthermore, with the cooperation of Idemitsu Kosan, Mazda will study the production of biodiesel fuel using the extracted lipids as feedstock.
The company will work toward the real-world deployment of these research findings and, as one potential application, aims to begin using biodiesel fuel as factory-fill fuel for all Mazda diesel vehicles built at its plants in Japan in the early 2030s.
Following the project’s selection for the NEDO programme, Takeji Kojima, director, corporate leadership executive officer and chief strategy officer (CSO) of Mazda, commented: “Through the widespread adoption of biodiesel fuel (HVO) derived from microalgae, we aim to contribute to greater domestic energy self-sufficiency, sustainable regional development, and enhanced industrial competitiveness.”
Mazda’s R&D project for biodiesel fuel deployment
