In Abu Dhabi, a pilot project conducted by Masdar Institute’s Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium
(SBRC) is developing an integrated bioenergy and aquaculture system to produce aviation biofuels and food using seawater and desert land.
The SBRC’s jet fuel project is testing the cultivation of Salicornia bigelovii a plant that can be grown in the desert land and irrigated with sea water, thanks to its high tolerance to salinity and heat and its low nutrient demand. The seeds contain 30% of oil that can be processed into green diesel through hydroprocessing and then further refined into jet fuel. At the same time, the straw could be converted into fuels through the industrial processes of pyrolysis and gasification. Producing biofuel on is only one part of the project’s larger Seawater Energy and Agriculture System, that includes farming fish and growing mangroves to create a system that can produced food and while further reducing the environmental impact of the fuel production.
