Biofuel production efficiency boost from partnership with HutanBio

HutanBio’s HBx Bio Oil is a biofuel that performs like fossil diesel, but is made from microalgae grown in desert regions using seawater and sunlight, producing sustainable renewable energy that’s carbon negative. 

Dr Hyungwoong Ahn, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, partnered with HutanBio to boost efficiency of their biofuel production. He applied advanced adsorption-based gas separation technology to enhance the performance of the company's photobioreactor systems for sustainable biofuel production. 

The collaboration addressed a key challenge in microalgae-based biofuel cultivation – the build-up of oxygen generated during photosynthesis, which can inhibit algal growth and reduce overall production efficiency. Drawing on his expertise in adsorption process engineering, Dr Ahn designed and evaluated customised pressure swing adsorption processes to selectively remove oxygen from the photobioreactor environment, helping to optimise conditions for higher biofuel yields. 

Dr Ahn said, 

This project was an exciting opportunity to apply adsorption separation principles, developed over many years for carbon capture and gas purification, to a novel challenge in biotechnology. I am delighted to have supported HutanBio's mission to make algal biofuels more efficient and commercially viable.

Ryan Watkins, Head of Process Development at HutanBio added, 

Dr Ahn's work has been extremely valuable to us, and we look forward to building on this collaboration with The University of Edinburgh to further develop our technology. 

The consultancy was supported through InnoConnect funding and facilitated by Edinburgh Innovations, The University of Edinburgh's commercialisation service. 

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