Biotechnologists and researchers from Swinburne Sarawak pool their expertise to meet the challenge of sourcing for the energy required to drive future global development.
BIOFUEL POTENTIAL: Ho showing professor Lueckenhausen her plate culture of Chlorella protothecoides.
IT is now pretty much agreed that the age of petroleum is entering its terminal phase. However much fossil fuel remains in this world, supply is not endless. Consequently, the development of viable alternative fuels is gathering pace.
Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak have extracted lipids (oils) from algae such as those in the genus chlorella which can be used as precursors for the production of biofuel or diesel engines.
The university has been involved in research on microalgal lipids since 2008. This has been a concerted effort by Swinburne biotechnologists and researchers to accumulate the expertise and know-how to help solve one of the most pressing problems facing the modern world – sourcing the energy required for future development.
Interest in the commercial potential of algal biotechnology has seen a dramatic increase in several Malaysian states, including Sarawak, in recent times.
The Swinburne project centres around the chosen model – chlorella protothecoides – which belongs to a category called microalgae because of its size.
According to associate professor Clem Kuek, who heads the project, this alga has the ability to use either light or sugars as its energy source for cell growth and the production of metabolites such as lipids from which biofuel can be produced.
Fermentation studies were undertaken at Swinburne University to develop an understanding of the kinetics of cell growth and lipid biosynthesis.
“This knowledge,” he explained, “is essential for the accurate and detailed evaluation of the various options for biodiesel production via microalgae. Under various conditions of production, the efficiency with which raw material is converted by the alga into the biofuel precursor was examined. It is from such mass balances that the economics of biofuel production can be determined.”
Swinburne Sarawak Campus pro vice-chancellor and chief executive, professor Helmut Lueckenhausen, added: “As always, science needs not only to be doable, it needs to lead to affordable outcomes and processes.
“This project begins the contribution of Swinburne Sarawak to the development of algal biotechnology in the state.”
For Masters student Jennifer Ho, the undertaking of this study as her Master of Science project has been a great experience.
“To be able to work on the production end for a renewable source of energy especially when I was previously working on the opposite end of the spectrum – cleaning up fossil fuel contamination – has been an eye-opening experience,” she said, adding that the project included sleep-deprived nights on campus when six-hour culture samples were needed to be collected over two-day experiements.
The outcomes from this project are enabling the university to make a significant contribution to the development of algal biotechnology in Sarawak – for instance, in the screening of local algae for their biofuel potentials.
Another specific example of where Swinburne’s attention to this aspect of biotechnology is producing tangible results can be seen in its collaboration with a Sarawakian aquaculture company to examine the culture of particular microalgae for incorporation into fish feed to increase the profile of highly-unsaturated fatty acides (omega-3 oils) of the empurau fish that the company produces. These empurau are currently exported internationally, including to China.
Commanding the technology for the controlled culture of algae enables economic exploitation of the chemical resources which reside within useful algae many of which can be found in the State’s marine and freshwater biodiversity.
For instance, Mitsubishi Corp Energy Business Group (Mitsubishi Energy) which is involved in the oil and gas industry in Bintulu, will be collaborating with the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre – with which Swinburne also has a collaboration – to explore algal biodiversity in Sarawak as a source of renewable energy.
For further information, contact the Swinburne Sarawak Research & Consultancy Office at [email protected]