Indian researchers use sand to cut cost of algae biofuel catalyst
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology have developed a catalyst for biofuel production using algae extracted from Rajasthan sand, as well as nickel and cobalt. They claim production costs for the fuel would be half those of fossil fuels, and added any sand with a pillar structure at the nano level could be used.

In India, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology have created a catalyst for biofuel production from algae using sand from Rajasthan, nickel and cobalt that cuts the price of production to half of that of fossil fuel. Many catalysts use expensive rare materials such as Rhodium that push up the price of production. The researchers say that any sand with a pillar structure at the nano level can be used to produce the catalyst, so it doesn’t have to just be that from Rajasthan.