Algae Biodiesel

Skepticism On Algae Biodiesel Yields

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Kansas State University researchers claim that optimistic projections of algae biodiesel production are not realistic.

“We found that phycologists — algae scientists — maintain that some popular estimates of producing 200 to 500 grams of algae per square meter of open pond per day weren’t feasible because there’s simply not enough sunlight coming through the atmosphere to do so,” Pfromm said. “Unless we can change the sun, such production is physically impossible — and the hard numbers prove that. Most economists wouldn’t necessarily recognize this as an issue in a business plan because it’s dictated by physics, not finances.”

The team used a more realistic, yet still optimistic, production number — 50 grams per square meter per day. They determined it would take 11 square miles of open ponds making 14,000 tons of algae a day to replace 50 million gallons of petroleum diesel per year — about 0.1 percent of the U.S. annual diesel consumption — with an eco-friendly algae alternative.

The cheaper open pond approaches face problems with water evaporation rates (big underground water reservoirs are already getting depleted), invasion by organisms that eat algae, and invasion by algae species that can out-compete any species ideal for oil production, whether natural or genetically engineered.

Natural algae produce oil best when they are nitrogen-starved.

“Algae don’t make oil out of the kindness of their hearts. They store energy as oil when they are starved for nitrogen so they can make more algae in the future,” Pfromm said. “The end result is the yield isn’t that high because we can either stress the algae to produce more oil or let them reproduce very efficiently — not both.”

Lots of selection for higher production crops amounts to selecting away overhead aimed at protection against predators and competitors. The same will apply to genetically engineering algae for higher oil production. So methods to keep out other species will need to be developed for that are open. I think this is a very hard set of problems to solve.

Source: http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/008008.html

Algae biodiesel, fuel of the future, a no go says USDA chemist

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A chemist based with the United States Department of Agriculture gave algae-based biofuels a failing grade recently when he reviewed the oil as an energy source, reported SciDevnet.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been exploring the potential of biodiesel fuels, research that has been mandated through legislation outlined in the 2006-2011 Strategic Plan. The overall imperative to develop biofuels comes from the White House, which has set a goal of producing 

“… 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 to power our cars, trucks, jets, ships, and tractors…”

The US Department of Energy outlines the draft algae biofuel strategy in a document titled National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap. SciDevnet recently learned of a review of algae-based biofuels by Gerhard Knothe. Knothe, a chemist with the USDA, and a recognized expert in the field of biofuels, learned incidentally that biofuels do not perform well in automobiles, warning that too much money and energy is being spent on developing a fuel that may not actually be feasible. His findings are reported in a research paper called Algae for Biofuels and Energy. Described as the “fuel of the future,” the production of algae-derived biodiesel has had a number of problems. The promise, however, has been so alluring that many companies have been established in the hopes of being the first to create a viable fuel from algae. The biodiesel created from algae is supposed to be compatible to current diesel systems. Test flights in 2009 using a blend of algae-biodiesel mixed with petroleum jet fuel and plant biodiesel were deemed successful, reported the Scientific American. One of the enticements of the algae is its simplicity, renew-ability and environmentally-friendly aspects. All algae needs to grow is water, sunshine and air. Developments by Australia’s Aurora Biofuels show that production of biodiesel from algae has a low environmental impact. Knothe said there was a previously undescribed problem with algae biofuels — the inability of the fuel to perform in cold temperatures, as well as a tendency to break down a little too quickly. Knothe told SciDevnet that some genetic tinkering with the algae might solve those problems, but his prognosis was that algae as an alternative fuel source was many years away from being market-ready. A quick scan of the industry shows that Knothe has definitely found a sore point. While there are around 200 companies vying to be the first to develop a fuel from algae, as PBS reported, there is very little evidence that the companies are researching the capabilities of their end product – the biodiesel for cars, trucks, jets and all the other vehicles that use petroleum-based fuels. There has to be some research underway, after all, there are algae biodiesel companies teaming up with other agencies to develop viable fuels, for example, Solena and British Airways. But whatever knowledge about the performance of the biofuels might exist, it is being held close to the vest by those in the industry. This might be a result of the competitiveness of the industry, or simply a failure of the industry to look past solving the current problems presented by the production of algae-based biofuels. No one algae-derived biodiesel is the same. Every company has its own blend of algaes, it’s own special way of growing the algae on top of having one of at least three ways to extract the oil from the algae. But only one company has had its biodiesel approved for use by consumers in the United States. The Chevron-backed Solazyme, which has a contract with the US Navy to supply green jet fuel, created SoladieselRDTM, which was approved for use in vehicles in 2008. However, it is not commercially available, and Solazyme has only conducted limited tests the fuel in vehicles, not publishing the results. The Navy is testing out the algae-derived fuel, reported blogger Elisa Wood. The lack of attention paid to the actual performance of biodiesel has been pointed out in the past, as an article written for How Stuff Works in 2007 demonstrates. Which leaves the public wondering what is going on with the ‘fuel of the future.’ Some answers may be provided at the 7th annual World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioprocessing when

“Executives from companies commercializing algae technology will discuss the status of the industry, market acceptance, and the need for government policy…”

In the meanwhile, the industry appears to be concentrating on bringing down the high costs of production of the fuel, which is said to be around $33 per gallon, according to GreenTechMedia.