Energy efficient biofuel device scoops innovation award 18 October 2010

A researcher from the University of Sheffield has scooped a national award for leading the team that developed a device to transform biofuel production and replace fossil fuels.

Professor William Zimmerman, from the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Sheffield, has been awarded the Royal Society Brian Mercer Award for Innovation – receiving £250,000 to develop the concept into a near-market product.

Zimmerman explains that the manufacture of biofuels currently requires vast amounts of power and is uneconomic. This new method consumes much less energy and could prove to be vital to the economic, green production of alternative fuels.

In brief detail, his team devised an air-lift loop bioreactor that creates 'microbubbles' using 18% less energy than existing methods. Microbubbles are miniature gas bubbles, less than 50 microns diameter, able to transfer materials in a bioreactor much more rapidly than larger bubbles produced by conventional bubble generation.

The approach is currently being tested with researchers from Suprafilt in Rochdale on industrial stack gases, and the team is also running tests with local water company Yorkshire Water – predicting they can reduce current electricity costs by at least one third.

"We are delighted to have identified over 40 potential applications for the energy efficient microbubble generation system, the most promising of which is more rapid growth of algal biomass for biofuel production. I liken it to creating a five star hotel for the algae – regular meals, sun bathing and waste removal, but at bargain prices."

Brian Tinham

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