Algal Biofuel Technology in the State of Qatar

by Matthew Landau (Aquatic Biosystems) In 2010, Qatar University initiated an algal biofuel project funded by Qatar Airways, and Qatar Science and Technology Park with a 3-year budget of USD 12 million. Completion of the first phase of the project, led by Prof. Dr. Malcolm Potts, is expected by the end of 2013. The main goals of this initial phase were to obtain candidate biofuel microalgae and test their performance outdoors in Qatar’s climatic conditions.

The state of Qatar is situated east of the Arabian Peninsula surrounded with a 1000km coastline within the Arabian Gulf. The landscape is mostly desert with less than 100mm annual rainfall. While the average winter daytime temperatures are around 20 ◦C; maximum temperatures are observed in the summer with average values around 45 ◦C, which altogether provide a suitable environment for mass culture of microalgae.

The project started off by isolating native microalgae from the desert and marine environments of Qatar which led to the establishment of the Qatar University Culture Collection of Cyanobacteria and Microalgae (QUCCCM). The culture collection currently holds over 200 uni-algal freshwater and marine cultures (Figure 1). READ MORE