The newly created European Algae Biomass Association (EABA) wraps up its first conference and assembly in Florence today.

In an interview with Reuters from the conference, EABA executive director Raffaello Garofalo said Europe could expect to see industrial-scale production of algae-based biofuels in the next 10 to 15 years.

While the cost of making fuel from algae today is much higher than the cost of other types of biofuels, algae provides the added advantages of not interfering with food production or taking up valuable cropland, Garofalo said. Unlike other biofuels, he added, algae-based fuel production also yields valuable byproducts that can be used for animal feed or pharmaceuticals.

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