Researchers combine dung and duckweed in search of affordable biofuels

Research supported by an Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) grant aims to convert waste from the dairy industry into renewable biofuels.

According to a statement from University of Southern Queensland – which is part of the team behind the work – the project will develop “scalable technology” for turning nutrients from dairy manure “into high-volume biomass using duckweed”. This biomass will then be used as a feedstock for creating biofuel.

The team was awarded a grant of $198,679 through AEA Ignite Round 1 and is made up of researchers from UniSQ’s Centre for Agricultural Engineering, the University of Adelaide’s Professor of Plant Synthetic Biology Jenny Mortimer, and industry partner David Halliday from Active Research. 

It addresses the issue of sustainable biofuel feedstocks at scale and low cost, said Dr Peter Harris from UniSQ. Duckweed is one of the fastest-growing plants, according to the statement.

“By using waste from dairy farms to grow duckweed in specialised growth chambers, we aim to produce over 100 tonnes of biomass per hectare per year,” said Harris.

“This far outweighs traditional crops and without competing with food supply.”

UniSQ’s Professor Bernadette McCabe added that the project was an excellent example of circular economy principles in action.

“Not only does it support sustainable agriculture and cleaner energy production, but it also opens new economic opportunities for regional industries, particularly dairy farmers,” McCabe said.

The work is apparently some way from commercial applicability, with the team aiming to reach Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 by the project’s end, “validating biofuel yield modelling in preparation for future lab testing”.

Picture: Two species of duckweeds taken in Waimanalo, Hawaii. (Credit: Eric Guinther. CC BY-SA 3.0)

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