Japan Industry and Policy News: Practical Use of the Next Generation MicroalgaeDerived Bio-Fuel
by Manuel Herrador (EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation) ISUZU MOTORS Co. Ltd. and EUGLENA Co. Ltd. aiming at practical use of the next generation “Midorimushi” microalgae-derived bio-fuel by 2018 with the “DeuSEL” project — ISUZU MOTORS Co. Ltd. and EUGLENA Co. Ltd. are joining efforts in the joint project DeuSEL [1] aiming at the practical use of the next generation bio-fuel in 2018. The project is divided by 2 main different roles depending of the Company, and various stages (Table 1):
- EUGLENA Co. Ltd.: R&D for cultivating the euglena microalgae strain, its treatment for obtaining dried biomass and the process for extracting the Midorimushi bio-fuel.
- ISUZU MOTORS Co. Ltd.: logistics and distribution of the Midorimushi bio-fuel in service stations, and specially, the validation of the Midorimushi bio-fuel using diesel-based buses.
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The project consists of a series of tests using the Midorimushi bio-fuel on the DeuSEL bus. To date, the project passed successfully a two-year experiment with a mileage of over 40,000 km. DeuSEL can use the existing diesel infrastructures such as (1) storage tanks, (2) the regular service stations for diesel vehicles and (3) trucks for transportation of fuel.
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The Midorimushi bio-fuel is not yet economically viable when compared with the fossil oil, but it is expected that the costs of production should be going down as the developed technologies are being improved. READ MORE