The UAE has the potential to become a world leader in the biofuels market, experts say.

Abu Dhabi: The UAE has the potential to become a world leader in the algae-based biofuels market and is uniquely positioned to make a strong impact, industry experts said.

Novel research has been undertaken by several experts and researchers at an Abu Dhabi-based institute to make new types of fuels that could be used for specialised high-end needs such as aviation and jet fuel.

The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology announced and presented new details on the UAE’s growth and export potential in the biofuels market from the algae sector to a delegation of industry and academic experts.

The algae industry specialists were delegates of the Algae World Middle East and North Africa (Mena) 2013 conference, seminar and summit, which was held to analyse and assess the future growth for an algae-driven economy and seek to address the diverse challenges in technologies and business models in the region.

Algae is a plant life of the many forms found in the UAE desert and can be used as an alternative source of energy.

“The algae, available in the UAE desert, is unique because it is local to the UAE and can stand a wide change in temperature. It can also live under high salinity ranges, one of the highest to date of any alage species and can be used throughout the year, offering a long harvesting season,” said Dr Hector Hernandez, assistant professor in chemical engineering programme at the Masdar Institute.

“Algae from the UAE and from deserts are a very new area of research and we are still working with industrial partners to identify the upper limit of how much algae can grow in the UAE,” Dr Hernandez said.

The cost of producing energy is currently projected between $8(Dh29) to $20 per gallon of biodiesel produced from algae; however, recent technologies and co-production schemes, along with novel growth production projects are making the overall cost of producing biofuels from algae a profitable venture.

Profitable production schemes are expected to come online in the next three to four years.

Biofuels as a commercial venture is still in the implementation and growth phase. In the US, the size of the venture capital investment in clean technologies, of which biofuels is a large component was more than $6 billion or around 23 per cent of all venture capital investment during 2001-2012.

The global biofuels market alone is projected to grow to around $139 billion by 2021, a recent report by Clean Edge, Inc, announced.