HutanBio says microalgal biofuel LCA shows net-negative carbon emissions

In the UK, HutanBio announced that the production process for its proprietary HBx microalgal biofuel achieves net-negative carbon emissions, based on an independent cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) conducted by EcoAct, a leading international sustainability consultancy and a wholly owned subsidiary of Schneider Electric Sustainability Business. The assessment offers robust third-party validation of HBx’s carbon removal potential and adds new momentum to the development of credible low-carbon fuel solutions.

HutanBio’s proprietary microalgal system naturally captures and sequesters carbon, achieving a net uptake of -5.78 tCO₂e per tonne of HBx produced. The LCA found that HBx production removes up to 1.48 tonnes of CO₂e per tonne of biofuel produced across all three planned production sites: Morocco, the Middle East, and Western Australia. The LCA addressed all production stages – including raw material inputs, inbound transport, production and refinery processes, and waste handling, offering a transparent carbon accounting methodology rarely seen in the biofuels sector. While downstream use-phase emissions are not included in the system boundary, the results clearly show that the production process alone contributes a net-negative carbon impact. The assessment was conducted in alignment with ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2020, providing robust independent analysis of HutanBio’s technology and methodology.
HBx is derived from a newly discovered marine microalgae cultivated in seawater on non-arable land using HutanBio’s proprietary enclosed photobioreactor technology. It does not compete with food crops or freshwater resources and is designed to power hard-to-abate transport sectors.