Algae

San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology – SD-CAB

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About Us – Overview

The San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology was established in 2008 as a consortium of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), in partnership with private industry.

The center collaborates with the private sector to apply lab discoveries to the industrial world through robust research and development in biology, chemistry, and engineering.

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Mission statement

The mission of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology (SD-CAB) is to support development of innovative, sustainable, and commercially viable algae-based biotechnology solutions for renewable energy, green chemistry, bio-products, water conservation, and CO2 abatement. The Center incorporates international research scientists from the fields of biology, chemistry, engineering, economics, and policy. It also trains young scientists, educates the public, collaborates with private sector partners, and facilitates discussion with regional, state and national policy makers regarding the use of algae for energy independence and conservation of land and water, while encouraging the highest standards of academic excellence and objectivity.

Founding institutions

University of California, San Diego (UCSD)

Since its founding in 1960, UC San Diego has rapidly ascended to the nation’s top echelon of institutions for higher education and research.

  • One of 10 campuses in the University of California system, UC San Diego’s graduate and professional schools include:
  • Scripps Institution of Oceanography
  • School of Medicine
  • School of International relations and Pacific Studies
  • Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • Jacobs School of Engineering
  • Rady School of Management
  • U.S. News & World Report ranks UC San Diego as the 8th best public university in the nation and among the nation’s top 50 universities.The National Science Foundation ranks UC San Diego 7th in the nation in federal research and development expenditures. UC San Diego’s faculty and alumni have spun off at least 200 local companies, including more than a third of the region’s biotech companies.More about UCSD

    The Scripps Research Institute (TRSI)

    TSRI is the world’s largest, private, non-profit biomedical research facility. Founded in 1961, TRSI is internationally recognized for its basic research in immunology, molecular, and cellular biology, chemistry, neurosciences, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, virology, and synthetic vaccine development.

    Of special note is the institute’s study of the basic structure and design of biological molecules. TSRI offers an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in chemical and biological sciences at the Kellogg School of Science and Technology as well as a postdoctoral fellowship program.

    For the past 2 years the Institute’s graduate studies program was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the nation’s top 10.

    Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)

    SIO is one of the oldest, largest, and most important centers for marine science research, graduate training, and public service in the world. In the 1960s, Scripps Director Roger Revelle joined with community leaders to create the University of California, San Diego. SIO is currently a department of UCSD.

    Today, SIO has more than 1,600 scientists, students, and staff who pursue SIO’s diverse multidisciplinary research mission.

    SIO faculty pioneered many fields of marine studies and initiated an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to studying the oceans, air, land, and life as unified systems.

    See an overview of SIO’s research.

Source: http://algae.ucsd.edu/about-us.html

SBAE Industries

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About SBAE

SBAE is an advanced biotech company specialized in the enabling of industrial production of microalgae.

SBAE has a unique expertise in selecting, cultivating and treating microalgae.

The company employs approximately 20 people, of which several have PhD levels in Biology / Biotechnology, forming a world class algae specialist team.

The R&D-team was able to convert its in-depth knowledge into large scale algae production techniques. SBAE developed and patented its own production platforms.

The Company’s strategy is based on two main axes:

  • Production of high quality algae at the lowest production cost. Presently SBAE has its focus on the aquaculture market and the microalgae business can be expanded to other markets.
  • Technology transfer for the construction of large scale algae farms(e.g. biofuel production plants).

The algae technology developed by SBAE can be used in several sectors such as:

  • Aquaculture Nutraceuticals
  • Waste water treatment
  • Cosmetics
  • Renewable energy
  • Biofuels
  • Animal Feed
  • Fine Chemicals

SBAE developed and patented two main technologies for the industrial production of microalgae, AlgaForce and DiaForce.

No matter what production system is used, the cultivation of algae relies heavily on the knowledge of algae populations and the creation of the right environment.

Source: http://www.sbae-industries.com/About/Company.html

Algae Converted to Butanol

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hollow_fiber_membranes

Algae growth is enhanced by delivering high concentrations of carbon dioxide through hollow fiber membranes that look like long strands of spaghetti. The algae are grown on “raceway” troughs. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Arkansas, Fayetteville)

A team of chemical engineers at the University of Arkansas has developed a method for converting common algae into butanol, a renewable fuel that can be used in existing combustible engines.

The green technology benefits from and adds greater value to a process being used now to clean and oxygenate U.S. waterways by removing excess nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer in runoff.

“We can make cars go,” says Jamie Hestekin, assistant professor and leader of the project. “Our conversion process is efficient and inexpensive. Butanol has many advantages compared to ethanol, but the coolest thing about this process is that we’re actually making rivers and lakes healthier by growing and harvesting the raw material.”

Hestekin and his research team — undergraduates from the Honors College and several graduate students, including a doctoral student who has discovered a more efficient and technologically superior fermentation method — grow algae on “raceways,” which are long troughs — usually two feet wide and ranging from five feet to 80-feet long, depending on the scale of the operation. The troughs are made of screens or carpet, although Hestekin said algae will grow on almost any surface.

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Algae survive on nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon dioxide and natural sunlight, so the researchers grow algae by running nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich creek water over the surface of the troughs. They enhance this growth by delivering high concentrations of carbon dioxide through hollow fiber membranes that look like long strands of spaghetti.

Municipal and state governments, primarily on the East Coast, have implemented large-scale processes similar to this to address so-called “dead zones,” where excess nitrogen and phosphorus have killed fish and plants.

The researchers harvest the algae every five to eight days by vacuuming or scraping it off the screens. After waiting for it to dry, they crush and grind the algae into a fine powder as the means to extract carbohydrates from the plant cells. Carbohydrates are made of sugars and starches.

For this project, Hestekin’s team works with starches. They treat the carbohydrates with acid and then heat them to break apart the starches and convert them into simple, natural sugars. They then begin a unique, two-step fermentation process in which organisms turn the sugars into organic acids — butyric, lactic and acetic.

The second stage of the fermentation process focuses on butyric acid and its conversion into butanol. The researchers use a unique process called electrodeionization, a technique developed by one of Hestekin’s doctoral students.

This technique involves the use of a special membrane that rapidly and efficiently separates the acids during the application of electrical charges. By quickly isolating butyric acid, the process increases productivity, which makes the conversion process easier and less expensive.

As Hestekin mentioned, Butanol has several significant advantages over ethanol, the current primary additive in gasoline. Butanol releases more energy per unit mass and can be mixed in higher concentrations than ethanol. It is less corrosive than ethanol and can be shipped through existing pipelines.

These attributes are in addition to the advantages gleaned from butanol’s source. Unlike corn, algae are not in demand by the food industry. Furthermore, it can be grown virtually anywhere and thus does not require large tracts of valuable farmland.

Hestekin’s team is currently working with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to create biofuel from algae grown at the Rockaway Wastewater Treatment Plant in Queens.

Research articles detailing findings from algae-to-fuel project have been submitted to Biotechnology and Bioengineering and Separation Science and Technology.

For more information visit www.uark.edu.

 

Source: http://www.pddnet.com/news-university-of-arkansas-algae-converted-to-butanol-030211/