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Biofuel, third generation fuel, or fish meal?
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On Thursday, 4 November 2010, the CSO (Chief Scientific Officer) of Cellana (company), Mark Huntley, gave his (second) talk at the Oceanography Seminar of U. Hawaii. The title was
"Marine Algae as Biorefineries: The Billion-Dollar Bet on a New Industry, observed from the Front Lines"
Here is what I can recall. (I didn't take notes, and my memory is not good.)
Oil companies (such as Shell) and DOE (US Department of Energy) are funding these companies and research groups. Cellana uses open-pond system. The speaker definitely knows what he was talking about, but he tried to stress the "positive" aspects of his company and hid some "not-so-positive" things under the rug.
Positive aspects: no need for freshwater and agricultural land, no pesticide, no GMO (at Cellana), etc.
(Unsolved) Problems: cost, CO2 (balance), huge demand for nutrients (since you don't grow something out of nothing
), how to deal with the extremely saline water (due to daily evaporation), drying process, getting the oil out of the lipids.
They might succeed at making oil at net gain (in terms of energy, CO2, etc.). Even if they don't, they may make money by making Fish meal. So, I am willing to buy some shares of this company, when the day comes.
PBR (Photobioreactors)
Oil companies (such as Shell) and DOE (US Department of Energy) are funding these companies and research groups. Cellana uses open-pond system. The speaker definitely knows what he was talking about, but he tried to stress the "positive" aspects of his company and hid some "not-so-positive" things under the rug.
Positive aspects: no need for freshwater and agricultural land, no pesticide, no GMO (at Cellana), etc.
(Unsolved) Problems: cost, CO2 (balance), huge demand for nutrients (since you don't grow something out of nothing
), how to deal with the extremely saline water (due to daily evaporation), drying process, getting the oil out of the lipids.They might succeed at making oil at net gain (in terms of energy, CO2, etc.). Even if they don't, they may make money by making Fish meal. So, I am willing to buy some shares of this company, when the day comes.
Most companies pursuing algae as a source of biofuels are pumping nutrient-laden water through plastic tubes (called "bioreactors" ) that are exposed to sunlight (and so called photobioreactors or PBR).
Running a PBR is more difficult than an open pond, and more costly.
Because algae strains with lower lipid content may grow as much as 30 times faster than those with high lipid content,[30] the difficulties in efficient biodiesel production from algae lie in finding an algal strain with a combination of high lipid content and fast growth rate, that isn't too difficult to harvest; and a cost-effective cultivation system (i.e., type of photobioreactor) that is best suited to that strain. There is also a need to provide concentrated CO2 to increase the rate of production.
Open pond
Open-pond systems for the most part have been given up for the cultivation of algae with high-oil content.[35] Many believe that a major flaw of the Aquatic Species Program was the decision to focus their efforts exclusively on open-ponds; this makes the entire effort dependent upon the hardiness of the strain chosen, requiring it to be unnecessarily resilient in order to withstand wide swings in temperature and pH, and competition from invasive algae and bacteria. Open systems using a monoculture are also vulnerable to viral infection. The energy that a high-oil strain invests into the production of oil is energy that is not invested into the production of proteins or carbohydrates, usually resulting in the species being less hardy, or having a slower growth rate. Algal species with a lower oil content, not having to divert their energies away from growth, have an easier time in the harsher conditions of an open system.
Specific research
Companies such as Sapphire Energy are using genetic engineering and chemically induced mutations to produce algae suitable for use as a crop.[46]
Some commercial interests into large scale algal-cultivation systems are looking to tie in to existing infrastructures, such as cement factories,[34] coal power plants, or sewage treatment facilities. This approach changes wastes into resources to provide the raw materials, CO2 and nutrients, for the system.[47]
Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation of New Zealand announced that it has produced its first sample of homegrown bio-diesel fuel with algae sourced from local sewerage ponds. A small quantity of laboratory produced oil was mixed with 95% regular diesel.
A feasibility study using marine microalgae in a photobioreactor is being done by The International Research Consortium on Continental Margins at the International University Bremen.[48]
The Department of Environmental Science at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, is working on producing biofuel from a local species of algae.[49]
NBB’s Feedstock Development program is addressing production of algae on the horizon to expand available material for biodiesel in a sustainable manner[50].
Nutrients
Main article: Algal nutrient solutions
Nutrients like nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), are important for plant growth and are essential parts of fertilizer. Silica and iron, as well as several trace elements, may also be considered important marine nutrients as the lack of one can limit the growth of, or productivity in, an area.[51]
One company, Green Star Products, announced their development of a micronutrient formula to increase the growth rate of algae. According to the company, its formula can increase the daily growth rate by 34% and can double the amount of algae produced in one growth cycle.[52]
There is always uncertainty about the success of new products and investors have to consider carefully the proper energy sources in which to invest[53]. A drop in fossil fuel oil prices might make consumers and therefore investors lose interest in renewable energy. Algal fuel companies are learning that investors have different expectations about returns and length of investments. AlgaePro Systems found in its talks with investors that while one wants at least 5 times the returns on their investment, others would only be willing to invest in a profitable operation over the long term. Every investor has its own unique stipulations that are obstacles to further algae fuel development. Additional concerns consider the potential environmental impact of Algal fuel development, as well as secondary impacts on wildlife such as bears and fish.[citation needed]
Whereas technical problems, such as harvesting, are being addressed successfully by the industry, the high up-front investment of algae-to-biofuels facilities is seen by many as a major obstacle to the success of this technology. Only few studies on the economic viability are publicly available, and must often rely on the little data (often only engineering estimates) available in the public domain. Dmitrov[54] examined the GreenFuels photobioreactor and estimated that algae oil would only be competitive at an oil price of $800 per barrel. A study by Alabi at al.[55] examined raceways, photobioreactors and anaerobic fermenters to make biofuels from algae and found that photobioreactors are too expensive to make biofuels. Raceways might be cost-effective in warm climates with very low labor costs, and fermenters may become cost-effective subsequent to significant process improvements. The group found that capital cost, labor cost and operational costs (fertilizer, electricity, etc.) by themselves are too high for algae biofuels to be cost-competitive with conventional fuels. Similar results were found by others[56][57][58], suggesting that unless new, cheaper ways of harnessing algae for biofuels production are found, their great technical potential may never become economically accessible.
See also: List of algal fuel producers
See also: Algae fuel in the United Kingdom
Universities in the United Kingdom which are working on producing oil from algae include:University of Glasgow, University of Brighton, Cambridge University, University College London, Imperial College London, Cranfield University and Newcastle University.
The CSIC´s Instituto de Bioquímica Vegetal y Fotosíntesis (Microalgae Biotechnology Group, in Sevilla, Spain[60] is researching the algal fuels.
Check out Cellana.
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-306792-381146.html
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