THE Algae Thread (merged)

[Ferretlover]

I was browsing through some scientific journals yesterday, and happened across an article on some techniques being developed to use algae for carbon-fixing. This process uses the photosynthesis of blue-green algae to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel burning power plants. The key factor in it is the fact that the algae only needs 10% of "normal" sunlight to grow at its maximum rate. So instead of growing it in flat containers, it is grown on a weave of fabric that wicks water up in small amounts (which reduces the water required). These pieces of fabric are sandwiched between acrylic plates that have sunlight piped in through fiberoptics. This essentially increases the surface area of algae by a factor of 10, so that for any given square meter of sunlight, 10 square meters of algae are being grown.
Once one of these "blocks" of sandwiched algae cultures have reached saturation, the blocks are opened up and the algae is rinsed off the fabric. They then close up the block again and put it back into production. The resulting algae can be tilled into soil to increase carbon in the soil for agriculture, or... they're considering using it as a fuel.

It makes me wonder if they can't use this process for the oil-producing algae strains.

[WisJim]

Aren't some varieties of algae grown for food/medicinal uses (such as spirolina)? I don't know if they are as poplar as they once were, but there were techniques involved in growing them that could be adapted to growing the algae used to produce oil for fuel, although the idea of increasing the area that you mention is interesting. I imagine the labor intensive part will be removing the algae from the fabric weave.

[hotsacks]

Sounds like a fascinating process.Have you got a link?
I wonder how scalable it is.
Spirolina is out of the running for commercial oil production in the algae race.The current favorite is 'botycoccus braunii'.Yeah.I know,who cares? But it does indicate how much research is being done in this area.
The players are looking to several value added products in commercial production to make it viable,the big one being fertilizer from waste.
Sewage treatment is another pollution reducing avenue algae photobioreactors could be used in.

[Caoimhan]

Sounds like a fascinating process.Have you got a link?
I wonder how scalable it is.
Spirolina is out of the running for commercial oil production in the algae race.The current favorite is 'botycoccus braunii'.Yeah.I know,who cares? But it does indicate how much research is being done in this area.
The players are looking to several value added products in commercial production to make it viable,the big one being fertilizer from waste.
Sewage treatment is another pollution reducing avenue algae photobioreactors could be used in.

No link, because it wasn't online. It was in a printed science journal. I can't remember which, because I had grabbed a stack of them at Barnes & Noble and read the articles that interested me. I'll see if I can find out.

They were talking about a cyanobacterium, but I don't know what role it played. I'll have to go back and review it.

[Ferretlover]

Seems to be a lot of predictions lately this will be the Bio-Diesel of the future.
The stuff reproduces so fast you can get 10K gallons per acre.
This leaves the corn for us. Every country can be set up very cheaply.
Maybe they should bring back the H1 Hummer?

Your thoughts?

[Stargazer]

Algae would be worth looking into as a source of cheaply available food. I personally wouldn't waste a potential source of food on keeping my car fuelled.

"The Aztecs also gathered great amounts of blue-green spirulina algae...from the surface of the lakes. This algae, known as tecuitlatl, is extremely high in protein, grows rapidly, and abundantly, and is easy to gather with fine nets..."

From http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmaya.html

More on spirulina algae from http://www.nrdcindia.com/pages/sprulina.htm

Just need to figure out how to grow and prepare it.

[Kingcoal]

I think it has a lot of promise. In the US, we have a lot of empty desert which could be set up to produce biodiesel this way.

[Kylon]

I think that we should use Algae as biofuel, if we are going to use anything as biofuel.

I personally think we should genetically modify Algae to produce the hydrocarbons we need, so we can quickly extract the hydrocarbons, then dump the remainders back into the water for fertilization of more algae.

I also think Algae would make a great source of food for the world.

We could make a ramen noodle like substance out of them, and have flavor packets.

[gego]

I think the EROEI is low, hence not a practical solution.

[dogf]

Pond Scum

Link to a 2 page article on how they plan on doing this.

[Ferretlover]

Press Release Source: AlgoDyne Ethanol Energy Inc.

AlgoDyne Ethanol's Direct-Alcohol-Fuel-Cell Work Prototype Completed Thursday February 1, 4:30 pm ET:
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AlgoDyne Ethanol Energy Inc. ('AlgoDyne' or the 'Company') (OTCBB: ADYN - News) today announced the availability of a working prototype of its DAFC (Direct-Alcohol-Fuel-Cell). A demonstration video can be watched on the Company's website at link. As announced on December 26, 2006, AlgoDyne is actively developing cutting edge DAFC (Direct-Alcohol-Fuel-Cell) technology to be able to produce electricity from ethanol directly. DAFCs generate power from the direct oxidation of alcohol in conjunction with the reduction of oxygen.

AlgoDyne is currently in the process of negotiating a partnership with a leading supplier of high performance catalysts, a basic element of any fuel cell design.

About AlgoDyne Ethanol: AlgoDyne's proprietary mico-algae-based (phytoplankton) technology provides a powerful means to produce clean, renewable energy from the continual harvest of biomass from Photo-Bioreactors. The end result is the production of ethanol, methanol, biodiesel, electricity, and animal feed -- all in a carbon dioxide neutral way.

[ALBY]

are you a member of the bqi board at RB or IV ?

[pstarr]

he end result is the production of ethanol, methanol, biodiesel, electricity, and animal feed -- all in a carbon dioxide neutral way.

lyou forgot diet sodas, day-glow black-light psychelic posters, and enema bags--all in a designer colors.

[Ferretlover]

Hello, Does anyone know what the energy density of dried algae is? Also, does anyone know how much oil can be extracted from a given amount of algae?

[Carlhole]

http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html

These people would probably know. There are other groups doing similar things with algae. It seems like fascinating kind of bio-engineering that would not impact food crops.

However, I wrote them a week or two ago asking why their webpage had not been updated for quite some time, asking about developments, etc. and haven't heard back from them yet.

The main arguments against crop-based biodiesel have been the dependence on petroleum for production, the destruction of valuable farmland, and the likely steep rise in grain prices as grains are increasingly raised as an energy source.

But bio-engineered algae specifically designed to use waste streams and used within a specifically engineered system in desert areas seems like must-do engineering. I had been hoping to hear more about this particular avenue of energy production.

[Commanding_Heights]

Simple green algae contains something like 70% lipids

Not sure what you mean by energy density. I think you mean the extraction of the oil and not the biomass after press.

Some DOE figure I saw claimed 10,000 gallons of bio-oil per acre. I've read sparse reports of 7000 gallons an acre.

Algae is normally grown in raceway ponds but there are companies working on bio-reactors which feed the algae carbon dioxide from flu gases which also removes pollution from the air.

I personally think a more realistic approach and one that could be locally distributed is the raceway ponds with a few additional add-ons which could boost production.

I'm currently selling my stake in a company and when the check clears I'm going to be putting my money where my mouth is and get to work on experimentation.

Figures I've read say that 70% of the algal oil can be pressed by using a hydraulic press once dried. Then additional chemicals can be added to the pressed algae for an additional 20% extraction. 90% extraction is pretty amazing. But the sad truth is that information is pretty sparse and I haven't seen a conclusive study which is why I'm going to find out myself.

[Carlhole]

http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html

I was just re-reading that article...

They said that the oil content of some algae species is approaching 50% with an energy density 7-8% less than petroleum diesel fuel.

[Commanding_Heights]

http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html

I was just re-reading that article...

They said that the oil content of some algae species is approaching 50% with an energy density 7-8% less than petroleum diesel fuel.

Like I said information is sparse. Here's a link showing different types with much lower than 50% http://www.oilgae.com/algae/comp/comp.html

[Carlhole]

http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html

I was just re-reading that article...

They said that the oil content of some algae species is approaching 50% with an energy density 7-8% less than petroleum diesel fuel.

Like I said information is sparse. Here's a link showing different types with much lower than 50% http://www.oilgae.com/algae/comp/comp.html

I was just reading over that site! ...had come back to post THIS page of it:

http://www.oilgae.com/algae/oil/yield/yield.html

The key question in everyone’s mind is: which is the best species of algae for biodiesel?

...

The following species listed are currently being studied for their suitability as a mass-oil producing crop, across various locations worldwide.

· Neochloris oleoabundans - Neochloris oleoabundans is a microalga belonging in the class Chlorophyceae

... ...

· Algal strains such as Botryococcus braunii can produce long chain hydrocarbons representing 86% of its dry weight. The green alga Botryococcus is unique in the quality and quantity of the liquid hydrocarbons it produces. Some scientists consider the ancestors of Botryococcus to be responsible for many of the world's fossil fuel deposits.

· Dunaliella tertiolecta - This strain is reported to have oil yield of about 37% (organic basis). D. tertiolecta is a fast growing strain and that means it has a high CO2 sequestration rate as well.

... ...

· The strains of Algae most favoured by the NREL researchers were Chlorophyceae (green algae). Green algae tend to produce starch, rather than lipids. Green algae have very high growth rates at 30oC and high light in a water solution of type I at 55 mmho/cm.

· The other favoured algae (by NREL researchers) is Bacilliarophy (diatom algae). However, the diatom algae needs silicon in the water to grow, whereas green algae requires nitrogen to grow. Under nutrient deficiency the algae produced more oils per weight of algae, however the algae growths also were significantly less. While certain green algae strains are very tolerant to temperature fluctuations, diatoms have a fairly narrow temperature range...

The question in my (layman's) mind is: What are the limits for bioengineered algae. It would seem that algae would lend itself to genetic modifications fairly easily. It appears that the researchers ar all studying existing species.

I'm imagining some carefully genetically-contrived species for use in a specific bioreactor system. I don't really know why this approach hasn't fired the imaginations of others who write about ethanol, renewables, etc. It would appear to have scalability and use otherwise barren land. It has always seemed like one of the more doable ideas out there - and for both conventional and bioengineers, this must be one of the more exciting areas to research and develop. Once developed, it would be a fairly standard industrial paradigm - something that people are already very good at...

What on earth is wrong with oil-from-algae?

[steam_cannon]

What on earth is wrong with oil-from-algae?

Gets into oceans and the ocean catches on fire... Hahaha, I'm kidding that could never happen, it would be the beaches catching on fire... More likely then that though is GM Algae would get into the oceans and poison fish. But if it keeps the cars rolling... And hey, if all the fish in the ocean are dying anyway, we could just replace the algae in the ocean and harvest the oceans for bio-fuels!

Well, good night folks. That was just me being funny