The two parties will jointly put up a pilot facility on 2-3 acres to demonstrate commercial viability bed the years the major focus of the biofuels market has been on feedstock like jatropha before starting production on a large scale.
The algae will be grown in water ponds and then pressed to get oil which will be processed to get biodiesel.
Algae takes hydrogen from water and carbon dioxide from air to produce hydrocarbon, which is also the chemical composition of conventional crude oil.
Explaining the process, a senior IOC executive said that algae would be grown in water where there is enough sunlight. Algae formation could take three to four days but its growth can be speeded up.
