Ep35: Biofuel from wild Sargassum with Ute Marx and John Roles

Ute Marx is Professor of Medical Engineering at Pforzheim University, but she has spent some of her research time in Brisbane Australia. Her teaching focuses on the subjects of technical sales and marketing, as well as natural science subjects such as molecular biophysics and metabonomics. Her research activities focus, among other things, on the question of how metabolic products in body fluids can provide information about the course of diseases and the success of therapies. Her interest in algae research started in 2005 studying the metabolism of H2 producing algae.

John Roles is a research fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland, Australia. Together with Professor Ben Hankamer he researches the economic potential of algae generated products. He has over 35 years of experience in the design and construction of energy projects including power generation and renewable fuels. His PhD was directed at the generation of the TELCA platform for economic and environmental assessment of renewable fuel production.

Professor Ben Hankamer is from the University of Queensland. He is the group leader of Bioinspired design of solar biotechnology systems lab group and the Director of the Centre for Solar Biotechnology, as well as the founding director of the Solar Biofuels Consortium. The Centre for Solar Biotechnology focuses on developing next generation microalgae systems tapping into the huge energy resource of the sun capturing CO2 to produce a wide range of products.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

• Introduction (2:35)
• What sargassum is to Ute and John (5:05)
• How Ute and John began working with sargassum (8:29)
• Solar biotech (14:20)
• Making crude oil (16:46)
• Using sargassum vs land-based algae (18:37)
• Biotech locations (22:41)
• Base case scenario and number estimates of operation (26:07)
• Future plans and turning theory into reality (38:07)
• Additional comments from Ute and John (43:19)
• Debrief (45:45)

Episode Transcript

Learn more about Ute Marx and John Roles:
֍  Bioinspired Design of Solar Biotechnology Systems Lab Group

֍  Professor Ben Hankamer

֍ Sargassum blooms in the Atlantic Ocean- From a burden to an asset

We love to hear from you, feel free to drop us an email to SargassumPodcast@gmx.net, and connect with us on social media: Facebook, twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn.

Can’t get enough? Become one of our patrons for as little as $1 a month. Patrons get to submit questions to us prior to the interviews that we will then ask our guests. We are grateful for each supporter and look forward to connecting with you.

Like our music? This song is called Them Ah Prey by Drizzle Road Ranna. Follow him on YouTube and Spotify