For decades, the promise of algal biofuel has remained tantalisingly out of reach. Despite significant investment from major oil companies, the industry has faced persistent challenges: unstable algae populations, prohibitive infrastructure costs, and insufficient oil yields. While many consider algal biofuel the industry’s cautionary tale, the research team at HutanBio, in England, decided to take a more radical approach to attack the problem.
“We had to challenge conventional wisdom,” says Dr John Archer, HutanBio Co-Founder. “We had a hypothesis which stemmed from simple observation: nature had already solved complex biological challenges through evolution. With the immense biodiversity of algae in our oceans, we believed the ideal organism, capable of industrialization already existed – waiting to be discovered.”
