A Feasibility Assessment
Submitted by:
Center for Microfibrous Materials Manufacturing (CM3)
Department of Chemical Engineering
Auburn University, Alabama 36849-5127
47 pages pdf that you can download here:
Source: http://bioenergy.msu.edu/feedstocks/algae_feasibility_alabama.pdf
Many kinds of algae and cyanobacteria are capable of using energy from sunlight to split water molecules and release hydrogen. One reason this approach hasn’t yet been harnessed for fuel production is that under ordinary circumstances, hydrogen production takes a back seat to the production of compounds that the organisms use to support their own growth.
But Shuguang Zhang, associate director of MIT’s Center for Biomedical Engineering, and postdocs Iftach Yacoby and Sergii Pochekailov, together with colleagues at Tel Aviv University in Israel and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, have found a way to use bioengineered proteins to flip this preference, allowing more hydrogen to be produced.
“The algae are really not interested in producing hydrogen, they want to produce sugar,” Yacoby says. “The sugar is what they need for their own survival, and the hydrogen is just a byproduct. But a multitasking enzyme, introduced into the liquid where the algae are at work, both suppresses the sugar production and redirects the organisms’ energies into hydrogen production. The work is described in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and was supported in part by a European Molecular Biology Organization postdoctoral fellowship, the Yang Trust Fund and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Adding the bioengineered enzyme increases the rate of algal hydrogen production by about 400 percent, Yacoby says. The sugar production is suppressed but not eliminated, he explains, because “if it went to zero, it would kill the organism.”
The research demonstrates for the first time how the two processes carried out by algae compete with each other; it also shows how that competition could be modified to favor hydrogen production in a laboratory environment. Zhang and Yacoby plan to continue developing the system to increase its efficiency of hydrogen production.
Ultimately, such a system could be used to produce hydrogen on a large scale using water and sunlight. The hydrogen could be used directly to generate electricity in a fuel cell or to power a vehicle, or could be combined with carbon dioxide to make methane or other fuels in a renewable, carbon-neutral way, the researchers say.
Source: http://www.algaeindustrymagazine.com/mit-researchers-increase-algal-hydrogen-production/
Independence Bio-Products (IBP) of Dublin, Ohio has received a patent from the U.S. Patent Office covering the company’s low-cost open-pond system for producing algae year-round, regardless of climate or season. IBP’s system uses heat recovered from power plants and other manufacturing facilities to maintain water temperatures within precise temperature ranges that optimize algae production.
The patent for invention number 7,905,049 B2 covers methods and systems for growing algae in water with a heating source; drying the algae with a heat source; and alternatively partially covering the body of water where the algae is grown. Heat recovery systems, algae processing and covers are also included.
IBP’s low-cost open-pond system was validated in an 18-month demonstration project adjacent to a power plant in Shadyside, Ohio. The project used CO2 from the power plant to feed the algae while waste heat recovered from the plant was used to ensure proper water temperatures. This newly patented system enabled IBP to grow algae year-round, even during harsh winter months. The project yielded algae solids for animal feeds and algae oil.
To access heat and CO2, IBP’s patented system will be deployed adjacent to coal-fired power plants and other industrial facilities, producing significantly more feed per acre than traditional crops, Erd noted. The company is now developing a 400-acre project in Texas on reclaimed mining land. The facility is scheduled to open in 2012, with potential future expansion to more than 20,000 acres.
Source: http://www.algaeindustrymagazine.com/independence-bio-products-algae-production-system/
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