10 commandments of algae biofuels - AlgaeU.com
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Covering a number of factors that are important in scaling algal biofuels. Factors include land, water, nutrients, sun, optimum strain, carbon dioxide, harvesting, and extraction.
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10 commandments of algae biofuels - AlgaeU.com
- 1. AlgaeU.com 10 Commandments of Algae Biofuels
- 2. Fuel is a Commodity commodity is some good for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market. Algae based biofuel is a commodity.
- 3. 10 Commandments of Algae Biofuel Thou shall put no other feedstocks before algae Thou will need land Thou will need freshwater Thou shall use cheap nutrients Thou must have consistent temperature Thou must have sufficient sun (optional) Thou must have carbon dioxide Thou shall use the optimumstrain Thou must have a means to harvest Thou must have a cost effective extraction method
- 5. 10-30 X more productive vs other crops
- 6. Can use salty or waste water
- 7. Grown on marginal lands
- 9. 2. Thou will need land * For meeting 50% of all transport fuel needs of the United States. Chisti 2007
- 10. 3. Thou will need freshwater “Even though algae can thrive in salt and waste water, as well as fresh water, using large amounts of water for growing algae may be at odds with water needs of population centers, agriculture, and wildlife habitat. Evaporation alone can consume millions of gallons a day from moderately sized operations. ” Live Fuels
- 11. 4. Thou shall use cheap nutrients Can’t use fertilizer, therefore must seek out low cost nutrients like waste water.
- 12. 5. Thou must have consistent temperature Cooling night temperatures can have a dramatic impact on biomass production. Since the systems for growing algae (ponds) and soybean/corn (soil) are dramatically different. Temperature is a critical factor in allowing algae to be grown for seasons longer than row crops like soybean and corn.
- 13. 6. Thou must have sufficient sun (optional)
- 14. 7. Thou must have carbon dioxide 100 Tons 160 Tons Algae Biomass Carbon Dioxide Chisti 2007
- 15. 8. Thou shall use the optimum strain Over 30,000 strains of algae Single cellular and multicellular Photosynthetic and Non photosynthetic Freshwater and Saltwater
- 16. Chisti 2007, Gouveia 2009
- 17. 9. Thou must have a means to harvest How to separate the algae from the water.
- 18. Less than 0.5% biomass in every liter of water. High Biomass does NOT equal high lipid. Gouveia 2009
- 19. 10. Thou must a have a cost effective extraction versus Soybean Algae Most biofuel crops are dry which allows for a number of extraction methods to be utilized. Drying algae will either be very energy intensive or a limiting factor to crop turnaround time therefore creating a bottleneck.
- 20. Judgment Day of Algal Biofuel Meet the commodity cost fuel requirement Life Cycle Analysis Meet fuel standards United States ASTM Biodiesel Standard 6751 European Union EN 14214 Limits Linolenic acid methyl ester to 12% mol EN 14213 Limits Iodine to 120 and 130 g iodine/ 100 g biodiesel Plug and Play
- 21. About AlgaeU.com What is Algae U? Algae U is short for Algae University. We are a collaborative website focused on algae research and applications. Follow on twitter.com/AlgaeU
Editor's Notes
- Definition of Commodity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity
- Algae flask image source: http://www.sapphireenergy.com/images/multimedia/Lab%20revised%20hi%20res%20001.jpg.renditions/Lab%20revised%20hi%20res%20001_large.jpg
- Yusuf Chisti. 2007 Biodiesel from microalgae. http://bahn.pbworks.com/f/BiodieselFromMicroalgae.pdfVast amounts of land will be required to scale up algae for biofuel production. In 2009, 75 million acres of soybeans, and 79 million acres of corn were harvested in the United States (FAOSTAT). Soybean and corn are two of the mains sources for biofuel production. So it is necessary to think of the footprint that will be required for algae. While microalgae may be able to use non arable land, it will still require large tracts of land in order to significantly impact our fossil fuel consumption.
- Yusuf Chisti. 2007 Biodiesel from microalgae. http://bahn.pbworks.com/f/BiodieselFromMicroalgae.pdfVast amounts of land will be required to scale up algae for biofuel production. In 2009, 75 million acres of soybeans, and 79 million acres of corn were harvested in the United States (FAOSTAT). Soybean and corn are two of the mains sources for biofuel production. So it is necessary to think of the footprint that will be required for algae. While microalgae may be able to use non arable land, it will still require large tracts of land in order to significantly impact our fossil fuel consumption.
- It is inevitable that growing algae in inland regions will require freshwater resources. Evaporation alone accounts for a significant loss in open ponds. While algae can inhabit a range of water sources from freshwater, brackish water, wastewater, and saltwater, it is necessary to replace lost water with non saline water. The reason non saline water is needed is that there is an upper limit to of salt concentrations that algae can tolerate.
- Fertilizer chart image source: http://knol.google.com/k/effects-of-industrial-agriculture-of-crops-on-water-and-soil#Wastewater treatment plant image source: Mark Lemos
- Temperature is a critical factor in allowing algae to be grown for seasons longer than row crops like soybean and corn.
- Solar radiation image source:Since most algae are photosynthetic it is critical to locate algae in regions with ample sunlight. (Ignore this commandment if you are growing algae in fermentative systems).
- Biodiesel from Microalgae ChistiBiotechnol Adv. 2007 May-Jun;25(3):294-306. Epub 2007 Feb 13. Ratio of grams of CO2 fixed per gram of algae biomass. 1.6 to 1 therefore 100 tons algae would consume 160 tons of CO2. (Kurano 1995) Fixation and utilization of carbon dioxide by algae biosynthesis.Second Generation Biofuels: High-Efficiency Microalgae for Biodiesel Production http://www.springerlink.com/content/w27j556388585618/
- Aquatic Species Program estimated there was over 100 thousand strains. Pages 2-3 of the Final ReportLive Fuels posted on their website there are over 300 thousand strains. http://livefuels.com/algaehistory.phpThe Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History- “The US Algal Collection is represented by almost 300,000 accessioned and inventoried herbarium specimens. “ http://botany.si.edu/projects/algae/
- A number of candidates and their variability in oil content from two algae publications is shown above.Biodiesel from microalgae. Yusuf Chisti. 2007. http://bahn.pbworks.com/f/BiodieselFromMicroalgae.pdfMicroalgae as a raw material for biofuels production.Gouveia L, Oliveira AC. 1: J IndMicrobiolBiotechnol. 2009 Feb;36(2):269-74. Epub 2008 Nov 4.
- Harvesting is a challenging task with algae accounting for less than 1% of every liter of pond media contains algae. This problem of handling the large volumes of liquid for small amounts of biomass makes it extremely difficult to find a cost effective harvesting strategy.
- Microalgae as a raw material for biofuels production.Gouveia L, Oliveira AC. 1: J IndMicrobiolBiotechnol. 2009 Feb;36(2):269-74. Epub 2008 Nov 4.
- Soybean image source: http://www.ctbiofuelinfo.org/category.htm?id=kp4v4kswHands holding algae image source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/07/photogalleries/100730-environment-china-green-algae-pollution-pictures/
- Biodiesel from Microalgae Chisti1: Biotechnol Adv. 2007 May-Jun;25(3):294-306. Epub 2007 Feb 13.