Canada to Recycle Oilsands Emissions for Algal Biofuels Production

In Canada, the federal government is partnering with two companies in a pilot project that will use algae to convert greenhouse gas emissions from oilsands into biofuels.

Canada is rich in oilsands which are naturally occurring mixtures of sand, clay, water and bitumen, a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum. Canada produces fuels such as gasoline and diesel from oilsands using advanced treatment and production technologies. Although per barrel greenhouse gas emissions in oilsands sites continue to decrease, overall emissions are growing as production increases to meet a growing demand for energy.

A $19-million facility in Alberta, which will use algae to recycle carbon dioxide emissions from an oilsands site, will be built by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Canadian Natural Resources Limited and Pond Biofuels. The recycled emissions will then be turned into products such as biofuel, livestock feed and fertilizer.

Although research into algal biofuel dates back decades, it is still considered a fairly new, untested technology. The NRC said the goal of the project is to test the feasibility of this technology on a large scale.