posted January 31, 2009 09:10 PM         

April 1, 2007 — Engineers have designed a simple, sustainable and natural carbon sequestration solution using algae. A team at Ohio University created a photo bioreactor that uses photosynthesis to grow algae, passing carbon dioxide over large membranes, placed vertically to save space. The carbon dioxide produced by the algae is harvested by dissolving into the surrounding water. The algae can be harvested and made into biodiesel fuel and feed for animals. A reactor with 1.25 million square meters of algae screens could be up and running by 2010.

Global warming's effects can be seen worldwide, and many experts believe it's only going to get worse. In fact, America is by far the largest contributor to global warming than any other country -- releasing a quarter of the world's carbon dioxide -- the primary cause of global warming. But now engineers have found a natural way to eliminate one of the worst contributors to our environment's decay.

What's coming from power plants, traffic jams and industrial smog is causing our ozone to disappear, ice caps to melt, and temperatures to rise. The latest international report says carbon dioxide responsible for 60 percent of the greenhouse gases.

Now engineers say a simple, sustainable and natural solution may come from algae. "If this sort of technology can be developed, it can be deployed anywhere there's sunlight," David Bayless, a professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio University in Athens, tells DBIS.

Bayless, with a team at Ohio University, created a photo bioreactor that uses photosynthesis to grow algae just like a plant would take carbon dioxide up and, through the energy of the sun, convert that into oxygen.

"That passes the carbon dioxide over these membranes," Ben Stuart, an Ohio University environmental engineer, tells DBIS. "These membranes are fabric just like your shirt. It's a woven material, and as the carbon dioxide pass by them, that carbon dioxide dissolves into the water."

That carbon dioxide is broken down by the algae. Nitrogen and clean oxygen are released back into the atmosphere. But to capture the CO2 created from a power plant, algae would have to fill a building the size of Wal-Mart.

"The size of these things would be enormous, about an acre worth of land space. And so the flue gases would run through this huge building and the algae would be growing on the suspended vertical surfaces." Stuart says.

But what makes it cost effective? The algae can be harvested and made into biodiesel fuel and feed for animals.

Bayless says, "You are talking about definitely home-grown fuel, a win-win thing. You know, you are taking a potentially very negative thing in carbon emissions and turning it into a fuel that we can use domestically." He says a full-scale reactor with 1.25 million square meters of algae screens could be up and running by 2010.

There are already some test facilities working right now -- and just in time! In the past 50 years, the U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have almost doubled. Texas ranks first in the nation for the highest emissions ... And just remember, once carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, it stays there for about 100 years.

The American Geophysical Union, American Society for Microbiology, and the Optical Society of America contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

BACKGROUND: A researcher at Ohio University's Ohio Coal Research Center has developed a bioreactor that cleans up carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel exhaust with the help of heat-loving algae and hybrid solar lighting. David Bayless believes that the easiest way to eliminate CO2 from coal-burning power plants is to use the natural process of photosynthesis.

HOW IT WORKS: Bayless designed a box packed with blue-green algae spread onto vertical screens. The algae use the CO2 and water from the power plant to grow new algae, giving off oxygen and water vapor in the process. The organisms also absorb components of acid rain, such as nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide. Building a workable prototype had its share of challenges. For instance, there was a problem of limited space -- it just wasn't possible to cover an area of around 100,000 acres with algae. So Bayless instead placed screens of woven fiber with algae vertically. Since algae need sunlight to thrive he brought in hybrid solar lights that collect sunlight with curved mirrors and then channel it through the reactor via optical fibers.

And instead of trying to genetically modify any kind of algae, he found a species that naturally thrives in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, and does equally well in the exhaust of a power plant. A remaining challenge is how to dispose of the large quantities of algae produced by the bioreactor; one option is to collect it and use it as a biologically derived fuel.

ALL ABOUT ALGAE: Algae are relatively simple organisms that capture light energy through photosynthesis and use it to convert inorganic substances into organic matter. Photosynthesis is the process of producing sugar from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, with oxygen as a waste product. Nearly all life depends on this complex biochemical process, which occurs most famously in plants, but also in phytoplankton, algae, and some bacteria, among other organisms. They are usually found in damp places or bodies of water. They vary from single-celled forms to complex forms made of many cells, such as giant kelps, which can grow as much as 65 meters in length. It is estimated that algae produce between 73% to 87% of the net global production of oxygen.

posted February 02, 2009 09:27 PM         

He gave a presentation to all the staff this morning in a company meeting, explaining what he's doing out there. Our company finished designing/building the largest ethanol plant in Minnesota last year, but the trend is away from ethanol as the best hope for an alternative fuel to power the nation's vehicles. Everyone's really excited about this new technology on the horizon, and at last we have a President who is interested in expanding the search for something to replace fossil fuels.

Once we get the technology finalized, we'll be in a perfect position to bid jobs at dirty coal plants to install a CO2 scrubber using algae. This is really exciting!!

Algae Gets Attention
The process of using algae to produce biofuel is getting a lot of attention from major companies, such as Chevron and Shell, and small start-ups, due to its huge potential.

~ By Paul MacDonald

Any way you look at it, the numbers are staggering: With oil prices at $110 a barrel, and the U.S. importing about 10 million barrels of crude oil a day, each and every day some $1.1 billion is leaving the United States to pay for foreign oil. That amounts to $46 million every hour.

This represents a huge transfer of money out of the U.S. And then there is the much talked-about national security aspect. While some of that oil is coming from countries friendly to the U.S.—Canada and Mexico, for example—a large amount is coming from less than amiable nations that are not exactly stable.

In recent years, significant amounts of capital have been invested in biofuel facilities in the U.S., primarily ethanol, in an effort to gradually move the country away from a dependence on foreign oil.

But questions are growing on just how much of the country’s fuel needs can be met with ethanol produced from corn and soybeans. There is also criticism that the use of these crops for energy production is driving up global food prices.

Some experts have suggested the U.S. needs to take a buckshot approach to developing biofuel sources and work on a number of solutions—not just one. It should not be betting the farm, so to speak, on ethanol from agricultural commodities.

One area of technology that is receiving growing interest is biofuel from algae. It has huge potential—and that probably explains why there are a number of companies working hard to develop a technology that can commercially deliver biofuel at a reasonable price.

Some of the technologies also offer the opportunity to use the CO2 from the stack gases of coal and natural gas power plants, perhaps helping to address global warming concerns.

Research supports the potential for energy from algae, which is commonly known as pond scum. Its production numbers are far from scummy. A study from the University of New Hampshire said that all the transportation fuels in the United States could be supplied by algae grown on less than 30 million acres of desert. That represents an area equal to about three percent of the land currently used for farming crops and grazing for animals.

And algae can be quick growing. With corn and soybeans, the growing season is months long. But some algae are so prolific that they could be harvested for oil production daily.

There are some very heavy hitters in the energy industry that are interested in producing biofuels from algae. Energy giant Chevron and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have entered into a collaborative research and development agreement to study and advance technology to produce transportation fuels using algae.

Chevron and NREL scientists are collaborating to identify and develop algae strains that can be economically harvested and processed into finished transportation fuels, such as jet fuel.

In announcing the initiative, NREL director Dan Arvizu noted that the research organization has a good deal of background in this area. “NREL operated the Aquatic Species Program for the Department of Energy for
nearly 20 years, giving us unique insights into the research required to produce cost-effective fuels from algal oils or lipids.

Our scientists have the advanced tools and the experience to rapidly increase the yield and productivity of key species of algae.”

NREL believes algae is a promising potential feedstock for next-generation biofuels because certain species contain high amounts of oil, which could be extracted, processed and refined into transportation fuels using currently available technology. Other benefits of algae as a potential feedstock are its abundance and fast growth rates.

Royal Dutch Shell announced last December that it will work with HR Biopetroleum to build a pilot facility for growing algae as a source of biofuels. The facility will cultivate algae in seawater ponds, then harvest the algae and extract oil from them for conversion into fuels such as biodiesel. Construction of the facility has started, on a parcel of land leased from the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), on the west shore of the island of Hawaii.

Other energy players are making the move to algae-to-energy. Renewable Energy Group (REG), a leading U.S. biodiesel production and marketing company based in Iowa, recently revealed it has scalable commercialization technology capable of refining and producing large volumes of high quality algae biodiesel.

REG has pre-treated and produced high quality algae biodiesel at the pilot scale level with results that it says will lead to commercial production.

The company is looking to initiate partnerships for commercial-scale production of algae biodiesel at volumes comparable to those from other vegetable and animal feedstocks now in use.

As noted, algae grow rapidly and can have a high percentage of lipids, or oils. They can double their mass several times a day and produce at least 15 times more oil per acre than alternatives such as rapeseed, palms, soybeans, or jatropha. Moreover, algae-growing facilities can be built on coastal land unsuitable for conventional agriculture. The Hawaii facility will grow only non-genetically modified, marine microalgae species in open-air ponds using proprietary technology, according to the companies. It will also use bottled carbon dioxide to test the algae’s ability to capture carbon.

Algae-to-energy is also getting attention from high government levels.

In a speech to the last Algae Biomass Summit in California, U.S. Department of Energy chief operating officer Paul Dickerson noted that President George W. Bush’s Advanced Energy Initiative is a sweeping plan to change energy use, and includes the 20 in 10 plan, which seeks to reduce gasoline use in the U.S. by 20 percent over the next decade by boosting fuel economy standards and expanding the use of alternative fuels. To make that target a reality, the country needs to displace 35 billion gallons of gasoline each year with a portfolio of fuels. It’s important to note that while Bush has set an ambitious agenda of developing alternative energy, Dickerson said Bush “continues to be clear that there is no silver bullet waiting around the corner.” Nor will there be a silver bullet solution waiting for Bush’s successor as president.

“There isn’t a single solution or technology that will deliver on our goals. Instead, there will be a portfolio of biofuels displacing the 35 billion gallons of gasoline.”

As with NREL director Dan Arvizu, Dickerson noted that three decades ago the Department of Energy was one of the pioneers in developing algae as a renewable fuel source, with the Aquatic Species Program. Its main focus was producing biodiesel from high lipid content algae grown in ponds, and utilizing waste CO2 from coal-fired power plants. For almost two decades, the program’s scientists amassed a collection of 3,000 algae strains. They developed a wealth of knowledge on how to apply biotechnology to enhance lipid production in these strains. They then successfully demonstrated pilot-scale algae growth in bioreactors located in the New Mexico desert.

That program ended in 1996, primarily due to costs and the lack of technology which could make “algae diesel” competitive with petroleum diesel, Dickerson noted. The strains, though, which now reside at the University of Hawaii, have continued to serve as the bedrock of evidence for algae fuels-related research.

“Today, it’s hard not to get excited about algae’s potential. Its basic requirements are few: CO2, sun, and water. Algae can flourish in non-arable land or in dirty water, and when it does flourish, its potential oil yield per acre is unmatched by any other terrestrial feedstock. In fact, it could be 30 to 100 times more productive.”

One of the smaller companies working steadily at developing technology in this area—notably using CO2 emissions—is Massachusetts-based GreenFuel Technologies.

GreenFuel’s emissions-to-biofuels technology uses safe, naturally occurring algae to recycle CO2 from the stack gases of power plants and other commercial sources of continuous CO2 emissions.

In a trial at the Redhawk Power Plant of Arizona Public Service Company, specially designed pipes captured and transported CO2 emissions from the stack to specialized containers holding algae. In the presence of sunlight, the algae consumed CO2.

With the GreenFuel model, algae is grown, harvested, and its starches are turned into ethanol, its lipids into biodiesel and its protein into high-grade food for livestock.

GreenFuel and APS were able to successfully grow algae at APS’ Redhawk natural gas power plant at levels 37 times higher than corn and 140 times higher than soybeans—the two primary crops used for biofuel.

GreenFuel CEO Cary Bullock noted that the whole area of producing biofuels from algae has received a great deal of interest in the last few years—and even more interest of late with the rising prices for corn and soybeans. Not to mention gas at $4 a gallon.

“Right now, people are looking at high gas prices at the pump and are also looking at the food vs. fuel issue that has arisen,” said Bullock, noting that ramping up biofuel facilities using corn and soybeans has its own set of challenges. One challenge is that biofuel produced from corn and soybean can only meet a fraction of U.S. fuel demand. “On a productivity basis, algae offer so much more than other crops,” he said.

There are also larger, strategic issues for the U.S., he added. “The source of major petroleum deposits tend to be political trouble spots around the world. There is a massive wealth transfer going on, from the developed countries to the countries with oil.”

All of these issues have people focused on looking for solutions and bioenergy from algae could be part of that solution—possibly a big part. “We believe that if we get commercial systems working, they will be very well received.”

Bullock said that GreenFuel Technologies is still working on getting its system fully evolved from the laboratory stage. “We’re going from labs to modified outside labs to doing pilot projects,” he explained. “We are in the process of designing and starting to employ commercial systems. They’re much larger than what we have done before, but they are still small commercial systems.”

A commercial setup would require a good deal of land, said Bullock, and would have to go through permitting, much like a power plant. “It will be 2-1/2 to three years before we get the first ones out there.”

Sometimes the thinking with new technologies is that they should be moved ahead—and moved quickly—to create some momentum and critical mass. People are looking for quick solutions to the current situation about high energy prices, and declining supplies of oil, said Bullock.

“I think the challenge we’ve had at GreenFuel is in keeping it going slower. The market, to a very great degree, is willing to pull you along. If you’re not careful, it can pull you along way faster than you should be going.”

The company recently completed one milestone—obtaining $13.9 M in venture capital. GreenFuel intends to use these funds to prepare for algae farm technology development and scaling up projects. The next milestone, Bullock said, is to get a completely commercial system up and running.

In terms of partnering with other companies, Bullock said it is important that potential partners understand what the risks are. “You’re not offering them a sure thing, you’re offering a possible way to solve a problem.

“They need to know that when you do something like this for the first time, you run into issues that you have never seen before—you have to sit down with cool heads and solve them.”

To a degree, there is a sense of excitement at the company—but they are very realistic about this being a medium to long haul, says Bullock. “Two to three years is not long in this process,” he added. “It has to be thought of in timeframes of upwards of 30 years, or even 50 years.”

Along the way, they want to enlist more partners and expand it in different areas. “The excitement is you end up making a real difference.”