Mazda 2 Bio concept to race in Super Taikyu Series – biodiesel from used cooking oil, edible microalgae

The battery-powered electric vehicle (EV) is merely one way to reach carbon neutrality, which let’s not forget, is the main reason behind the move away from the fossil fuel-powered internal combustion engine (ICE). There are other roads there, as demonstrated by Toyota with its hydrogen combustion engine.

Mazda is exploring another avenue. The Hiroshima carmaker will be competing in this year’s Super Taikyu endurance race series with two cars – one is a regular petrol-powered Mazda MX-5 and the other is a Mazda 2 Bio concept. The latter runs on what Mazda calls “next-generation biodiesel fuel” and the company is racing it to prove it, as well as to expand the use of this biodiesel.

The Mazda 2 Bio concept is the familiar B-segment hatch equipped with a Skyactiv-D diesel engine, but it uses a 100% biomass-derived next-generation biodiesel fuel called Susteo offered by a company called Euglena. Mazda doesn’t elaborate, but a check on Euglena’s website revealed some interesting facts.

Biofuel can be made from many things, but Susteo is made from used cooking oil and oil extracted from something called euglena. The latter is a microalgae that’s edible and said to be very nutritious. The Euglena company even delivers euglena cookies to Bangladesh to help improve the nutritional deficiency of the country’s children.

The organism is good for the environment too, as it grows and proliferates via photosynthesis, and that means sucking up CO2 from the environment and giving back oxygen. Susteo uses 90% or more used cooking oil and 10% or less Euglena oil and fat. Euglena (the company) grows euglena gracilis on Ishigaki island in Japan and is focusing on the development of euglena oil and fat culture as a raw material.

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