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Annex 4: U.S. National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap In 2010, the US Department of Energy (US DOE) sponsored the development of a complete roadmap towards the production of algal biofuel131. The main objectives of this strategy were centred on exploring the various pathways of transforming algae into economically viable energy applications including renewable gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. This roadmap completed the various projects initialised by the US Department of Defence (US DOD) towards the development of a diverse range of biofuels from various sources including plants such as jatropha or babassu as well as microalgae. Although the roadmap is clearly oriented towards the production of energy, most of the developments supported by the strategy will benefit all blue biotech sectors. Several of the intermediate compounds produced by these processes (e.g. lipids and proteins) will be easily transferable to other sectors and the harvesting and extraction techniques used will be potentially transferrable to any other biotechnology applications based on micro algae and other marine microorganisms. Key aspects of this strategy are;  The development of general biotechnological techniques that will benefit all blue biotech sectors and may be adapted for other model organisms. The roadmap explicitly mentions the need for applying the whole “Omics”132 approach to algal applications;  The identification of algal strains proposed in the strategy will also allow for improvements in existing information, notably about the diversity held by the various algal collection centres. Renewal of existing strains held in culture collection and biodiscovery projects extending the collections are also tasks covered by the roadmap;  Selecting model algal model extraction/cultivation systems for study that can provide a common platform for all blue biotech sub-sectors; Investigating genetic and biochemical pathways for the production of fuel precursors and optimizing the algal productivity for fuel precursors which will serve the entire industry, as these precursors, such as lipids, may have different usages;  Researching harvesting133  and extracting134 approaches for microalgae and additional intermediate compounds. Research into scaling challenges, such as operational temperature, pressure, carrying capacity, side reactions, and separations are not specific to the energy applications and will also be transferable to other sub-sectors. 131 U.S. DOE 2010. National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Biomass Program. http://biomass.energy.gov 132 Omics is a generic term covering several biotechnological techniques: DNA sequencing, transcriptomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics and Lipidomics 133 The U.S. DOE strategy mentions: sedimentation, flocculation, dissolved air floatation, filtration, centrifugation, and mechanized seaweed harvesting 134 The U.S. DOE strategy mentions: sonication, microwave, solvent systems, supercritical fluid, subcritical water, selective extraction, and secretion Study in support of Impact Assessment work on Blue Biotechnology 95

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