With the recent dramatic increase in crude oil prices and the impending threat of human-induced climate change, clean energy technologies are attracting significant interest. The use of biomass as a raw fuel has been widely proposed as a replacement for crude oil, both in transportation fuels and combined heat and power systems. Concerns have been raised however at the impact of biomass usage on global food prices and deforestation. More recently, the use of algae has been proposed to overcome these difficulties. Carbon sequestration has also been widely proposed as a means of slowing or reducing the build-up of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Scientists at Aston have devised a novel design for a power generation facility that utilises algae to generate low-cost heat and power and provides a by-product that cheaply, easily and usefully sequesters carbon. It is estimated that significant profits might be generated through operation of the facility. The power plant consists of a biomass digester, an algae-growth cultivation vat, and a pyrolysis reactor. The plant optionally utilizes a gasifier, and/or an electricity generation turbine, and/or an incinerator.

All gaseous emissions and liquid by-products are retained and reused, while the carbon-rich biochar solid by-product is sequestered by spreading on farmland as a fertilizer—effectively rendering the plant carbon negative.