Algae converts sunlight and carbon dioxide into flammable hydrocarbons, offering a like-for-like replacement for fossil fuels.
British-Malaysian company HutanBio is the world leader in algae biofuel. Co-founder Dr John Archer tells Mewburn Ellis why algae will be powering, lorries, ships and aeroplanes in the near future.
Forward: features are independent pieces written for Mewburn Ellis discussing and celebrating the best of innovation and exploration from the scientific and entrepreneurial worlds.
The search for sustainable fuel alternatives has introduced numerous contenders. There’s hydrogen, a challenge to store and transport; ammonia, which is toxic; and fast-growing biomass crops, which are constrained by soil and climate requirements. Algae, however, offers something radically different.
‘Algae deliver an exceptionally high yield,’ explains Dr. Archer. ‘They can produce significantly more oil per acre than traditional crops and can be cultivated in non-arable regions, eliminating competition with food production.’
It is also notably cleaner than conventional fossil fuels. ‘Our process yields a pure, single-molecule fuel,’ Dr Archer states. ‘Unlike crude oil, which contains various contaminants, including hazardous compounds such as hydrogen sulphide and nitrous oxide, our biofuel offers a cleaner combustion profile.’
Additionally, algae absorb CO₂ during growth – in the case of HutanBio, for every tonne of biomass produced, the algae capture 1.83 tonnes of CO₂, resulting in a carbon-negative life cycle.
Dr John Archer, HutanBio Co-Founder, at their pilot site in Mantin, Malaysia
A key commercial advantage of algal fuel is its seamless integration into existing infrastructure. ‘Our fuel requires no engine modifications,’ Dr Archer emphasises. ‘It’s harvested, clarified and ready for immediate use.’
With the potential to replace fossil-based fuels in industries where electrification is impractical – such as long-haul trucking, aviation and maritime shipping – algae biofuel could significantly reduce global carbon emissions. Shipping alone consumes 1.9 billion barrels of fuel annually, contributing 3% of global emissions, so the potential to introduce an alternative fuel without the need for extensive infrastructure overhauls presents an attractive and viable path toward decarbonisation.
And then there is authenticity of origin. ‘There is a scandal with many alternative fuels,’ says Dr Archer. ‘Are you using cooking oil or palm oil? When fuels come from the other side of the world, through multiple countries and languages, you can’t verify what it really is. Fuel provenance is starting to get a lot of traction.’
It’s a fabulous pitch. But can algae really scale?
The search for the perfect algae
Dr Archer and his Malaysian co-founders, Dr Noor Azlin Mokhtar and Suhaiza Ahmad Jamhor (Jaja), dedicated years to identifying the most efficient and resilient algal strain. Given the vast diversity of algae, selecting an optimal candidate required extensive research.
‘Organisms adapt to the environment they are in,’ explains Dr Archer. ‘And most algal organisms being studied were isolated at high latitude. There is a thing called photo inhibition. If you have too high a photon flux, the thylakoid (the membrane sac in the cell that contains the chlorophyll, where the hydrogen is stored and the oxygen is being removed) stops working. It stops photosynthesising.
‘So, our goal was to find an algae strain capable of thriving in regions with intense solar exposure,’ Dr Archer recounts. ‘We set out to search high-photon flux environments, collecting samples from the Red Sea, the South China Sea and the Malacca Straits.’ A journey that culminated in the largest marine microalgae bioprospecting programme of its kind no less.
Their focus was to select strains that exhibited exceptional resilience to extreme heat, high salinity and significant CO₂ concentrations – all critical factors for large-scale biofuel production. Additionally, an ability to resist microbial predation and function without costly vitamin supplementation would further enhance commercial viability.
This extensive screening process, involving over 10²⁰ cell colonies, led to the isolation of the best of the best. ‘We didn’t care which algae it was. It was a meritocracy.’ The taxonomy of algae was advanced by the process: ‘What was stunning was by the end we had identified 140 strains that matched the required criteria, which were also previously unknown to science. Not surprising, to be honest. We know more about the moon than the seabed.’
Ending the trials on a high, Dr Archer confirms: ‘We had 140 strains of algae, of which 80 were from the same genus, providing us with diversity and tremendous resilience.’ Referred to as HBx, Dr Archer suggests it’s likely to be an ancient organism, maybe two billion years old. ‘We are tempted to say it’s the organism that was making the oil in the first place.’
How to build an algae farm
Armed with optimal strains, HutanBio could now focus on large-scale cultivation. While turning algae from raw form into fuel is a well-known process, the team identified it as another area for improvement and quite literally turned cultivation on its side.
Moving away from problematic open-pond setups to a data-managed, sophisticated cultivation solution, the algae are grown in seawater, on land in proprietary photobioreactors – rows and rows of vertical plastic bags arranged for maximum solar exposure. ‘We grow them like a vineyard, in linear arrays,’ says Dr Archer.
Captured CO₂, either from the air or from high-emitting industrial processes such as a cement plant, is bubbled through the tanks to feed the cells. Cultivation can be fine-tuned: ‘We monitor the sunlight every 100 milliseconds, throttling the CO₂ feed depending on the sun. When the sun is really strong, we increase CO₂, but if there’s a bit of cloud, we cut back to avoid waste. Our closed-loop control system means we continuously collect and analyse data to optimise yield. It’s high-tech farming on an industrial scale.’
One of the challenges of large-scale aquaculture systems that use seawater is increased salinity. ‘As evaporation takes place, our algae are exposed to increasing salinity and so to counter this we use directed evolution techniques to boost the salinity resistance of our algae,’ notes Dr Archer, further highlighting the scientific rigour embedded by Dr Archer and his team while developing their breakthrough technology.
Algal cultures in nursery phase
A critical phase in the process occurs after approximately 30 days, when growth conditions are altered to induce oil production. ‘We carefully modulate nitrate and phosphate levels,’ Dr Archer explains. ‘Executed correctly, the cells shift to lipid accumulation, optimising fuel yield.’
Harvesting involves filtration and water recycling to ensure sustainability. ‘The cells are big and heavy, so we can simply filter through a giant tea strainer’. ‘We meticulously manage water use, recycling until salinity becomes excessive, at which point we extract sea salt as a byproduct.’
The extracted biomass, post oil-extraction, serves as a valuable animal feed, enhancing the economic viability of the process.
The final stage is the transformation into usable fuel. ‘We lyse the cells with a high-pressure system. Then we extract the oil in the way all crop oil is extracted – with solvents. It’s very high efficiency and we end up with two products, the bio oil and the extracted biomass, which is an excellent animal feed.’
A huge advantage of this method is the algae can be grown anywhere with plenty of sunshine and there is no shortage of space. ‘The government of Morocco has set aside a million square kilometres for renewable fuel in the Sahara and we have operated in the Middle East. It is actually more challenging to work, as we have done, in a reclaimed brownfield site in Malaysia.’
The economics of algae
The list of benefits of algae biofuel is impressive. But can HutanBio really displace fossil fuels, which are regrettably abundant and cheap to extract, owing to a century of investment in infrastructure?
HutanBio offers reasons to believe a plausible economic model exists. Its approach is modular: more grow bags can be added to a plant as needed. Unlike, say, a nuclear reactor, it’s not a fixed-unit concept and the design is to minimise the use of fixed infrastructure such as cement and favour readily recyclable materials. The ability to locate plants in arid wastelands such as deserts and convert solar energy into chemical energy is attractive. And the use of salt water, with only modest filtration, cuts costs further.
The market is hungry for solutions. The first industry to adopt algal fuel is likely to be maritime. Electrification of vessels is implausible (plug them in where, exactly?). The heavy fuel oil used by 60% of commercial vessels is notoriously dirty, owing to lower regulatory standards. Shipping emits 8% of global sulphur dioxide, a key contributor to acid rain. The International Maritime Organisation agreed to cut emissions by half by 2050, but progress has been slow. Algal biofuel would be a dream replacement if supply is stable and the cost is right.
Algal biofuel
A 24% algae to fossil fuel mix makes sense. ‘Why 24%?’ says Dr Archer. ‘Because in maritime law, it is possible to refuel a large ship with up to 24% non-fossil fuel. Above that it is necessary to use a dedicated fuelling ship to pump oil into the container vessel. So 24% is the magic number in the industry.’
Airlines would also welcome a substitute for fossil fuels, but feedstocks are limited and throttling supplies. Objections to a third runway at Heathrow and other expansion projects might subside if the industry could substantially cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Investor interest in HutanBio is accelerating. The company secured £3.5m in seed funding from the UK’s leading climate impact investor, Clean Growth Fund, and others; and its Series A round is already underway. ‘Investor enthusiasm is strong,’ says Dr Archer. ‘Our next milestone is scaling up to a 3–5-hectare commercial pilot production site. We have people in the bunkerage supply chain who said: “If you can make 500 tonnes, we’ll buy it tomorrow.’”
HutanBio is also working with Mewburn Ellis to secure intellectual property rights. ‘Mewburn Ellis has provided outstanding patent support,’ Dr Archer acknowledges. ‘We currently have four patents under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, ensuring protection for our innovations.’
Is algae really the future?
Dr Archer is a convincing evangelist for algal biofuel. Commercial success will depend heavily on economies of scale, carbon taxes and further investment.
There is competition. The US Department of Energy recently awarded grants to 10 algal biofuel research and development projects, and Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy fund invested $25m in US-based Viridos.
However, the isolation of the potent strains of algae in HBx gives the company a significant moat versus rivals. And HutanBio announced ex BP chief of staff Dominic Emery joined as chair in March 2025. Emery is a renowned energy expert with over three decades of experience and a senior Fellow at the World Economic Forum.
Dr Archer and his Anglo-Malaysia team have already brought algae into mainstream consideration. It is impossible not to be inspired by their pitch: ‘With algal biofuel, the world can use the same pipes we’ve been using for 100 years. The energy density is there. You don’t have to change safety rules. And for ships there are no scary implications like you have with ammonia fuel, when a leak could kill the crew.’
If Morocco, Saudi or another nation blessed with desert, coastline and abundant sunshine is ready to host the first major production plant, Dr Archer and his team are ready to show the world what algae can do.
Scalable, viable, and investable
Simon Kremer, Mewburn Ellis Partner and Patent Attorney, comments:
"HutanBio’s response to the challenge of providing carbon-neutral fossil replacements is so impressive because it has been developed right from the outset to solve practical problems in a scalable and economically viable fashion. Their robust proprietary algal strains and associated systems of use also provides the basis for a strong IP position in what is likely to be an increasingly crowded field, and that IP also plays its part in attracting the investment they have secured, and will continue to need as they grow. Its been so exciting to share this journey with them, and see how it can go in solving one of the great problems of our age."
Powering a greener maritime future
Simon Parry, Mewburn Ellis Partner and Patent Attorney, comments:
"It is not difficult to see the potential for HutanBio’s algae-based biofuel to significantly change fuelling in the maritime industry, which now urgently needs cleaner energy solutions if it is to meet the IMO’s target of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Algae biofuel could be the key to slashing emissions without overhauling existing infrastructure – of crucial importance for shipping given the very high investment required and thus the long service lives of ships. We have already seen an increase in conventional biofuel use over recent years, with such fuels now being bunkered in major ports like Singapore and Rotterdam. With its modular and scalable approach to production, HutanBio looks set to provide a very persuasive alternative for shipping operators."
Harnessing algae for sustainable air travel
Anja Koller, Mewburn Ellis Senior Associate and German Patent Attorney, comments:
“The ability to grow algae in regions with high solar exposure and limited agricultural value (e.g., deserts) offers a significant advantage. While the near-term focus for algae biofuel may be on maritime transport, aviation represents a major growth opportunity, as highlighted by Dr. Archer. Successful scale-up and cost reduction could pave the way for algae-based biofuels to become a mainstream fuel source for commercial aviation. By successfully isolating high-yield, resilient algal strains and employing an easily scalable modular production approach, HutanBio is well-positioned to gain a technological edge. This, in turn, could provide airlines with a strong economic incentive to transition from conventional jet fuel to algae biofuel.”
Written by Charles Orton-Jones
