Algae Cultures to Biofuels

Heather Sommers
Molluscan Aquaculture
April 25th, 2007
Overview
 What is Algae
 Basics
 Types
 Importance
 Making algae into a fuel source
 Biodiesel
 History
 Hydrogen
 History
 Biomass
 How to Culture
What is Algae?

 Algae
 Simple plant
 Most live in water
 Photosynthetic
 Capture light energy
 Convert inorganic to organic matter
 Nonvascular
 Use lipids and oils to help float in water
 Range from small, single-celled species to complex
multicellular species, such as the giant kelps
Types

 Red Algae  Diatoms

 Benthic  Single celled
 Macro  Silica cell wall
 Green Algae  Blue Green Algae
 Chlorophyll a and b  Vertical migration
 Plants  Fix N2 from air
 Freshwater  Freshwater
 Brown Algae  Dinoflagellates
 Benthic  Toxic; suck out O2
 Macro  Cause red tides
 Kelp  Organic matter
 Marine
Background

 Location
 Most habitats
 How many
 Over 36,000 species
 How does it feed?
 Photosynthesis
 All have chlorophyll
 Uses
 food, fertilizer, foodstock, pharmaceutical, pollution
control, water treatment, dyes, agar, Fuels
 Biodiesel History

 From 1978 to 1996 the U.S. Department of

Energy funded a program to develop
renewable transportation fuels from algae
 The main focus of the program was known as
the Aquatic Species Program (or ASP)
 Production of biodiesel from high lipid-content
algae grown in ponds
 Utilized waste CO2 from coal fired power plants

(Department of Energy. 1996)

Why make it a fuel?
 Algae can be used to make biodiesel
 Produces large amounts oil
 When compared to terrestrial crops grown for the same purpose
 Algae contain anywhere between 2% and 40% of lipids/oils by
weight
 Once harvested, this oil can be converted into fuels for
transportation, aviation or heating
 High growth rate and easy to grow
 Warm Seasons
 Amphora sp.
 Tetraselmis suecica
 Cold Seasons
 Monoraphidium minutum
 Use of diatoms and green algae
Harvesting Biodiesel
 Microalgae have much faster growth-rates than terrestrial crops
 Algal-oil processes into biodiesel as easily as oil derived from land-
based crops
 Use microalgae
 Less complex structure
 Faster growing rate
 High oil content
 How to harvest
 Open-pond systems
 Can be difficult
 Type of algae has to be hardy
 Can be less hardy and grow slower
 Use Bioreactor Tubes
 Use existing infrastructures
 Provides the raw materials for the system, such as CO2 and nutrients
 Changes those wastes into resources.

(Solix BioFuels. 2006)

 Factories

(Enhanced Biofuels & Technologies Ltd. 2007)

How to get oil
 Expeller/Press
 Algae is dried
 Oil content can be "pressed" out with an oil press
 Extracts 70-75% of the oils out of algae
 Hexane Solvent Method
 Uses chemicals (such as hexane and methanol)
 Can be harmful and explosive
 Cold press & hexane solvent = extract 95% of oil
 Supercritical Fluid Extraction
 CO2 is liquefied under pressure and heated to the point that it
has the properties of both a liquid and gas
 This liquefied fluid then acts as the solvent in extracting the oil
 Can Extract almost 100% of the oils
 Expensive equipment
 Oil Yield
Gallons of Oil per Acre per Year

 Corn . . . . . . . 15

 Soybeans . . . .48

 Safflower. . . . . 83

 Sunflower . . . 102

 Rapeseed. . . 127

 Oil Palm . . . . 635

 Micro Algae . .1850 [based on actual biomass yields]

 Micro Algae . .5000-15000 [theoretical laboratory yield]

Cultivating Algae for Liquid Fuel Production (http://oakhavenpc.org/cultivating_algae.htm); 2005

Other Uses

 Hydrogen
 Algae can be grown to produce hydrogen
 Discovered first in 1939 by Hans Gaffrom
 Late 1990’s it was found that if sulfur deprived,
algae will produce hydrogen
 Biomass
 Algae can be grown to produce biomass
 Burned to produce heat and electricity
 Can still produce greenhouse gases
 Biomass Yield
Metric Tons per Hectare per Year

 Algae.....51.1 [USA average, 1978]

 Sugarcane.....79.2 [Brazilian average, 2005]

 Sorghum.....70 [India average, 2005]

 Cassava.....65 [Nigeria average, 1985]

 Oil palm.....50 [Global average, 2005]

Cultivating Algae for Liquid Fuel Production (http://oakhavenpc.org/cultivating_algae.htm); NREL, 2005

Importance

 Algae is easy to grow

 Can produce a high yield of oil
 Oil can be processed into biodiesel
 Help to solve dependence on fossil fuels
 Can be better for the Earth
References
 Cultivating Algae for Liquid Fuel Production (http://oakhavenpc.org/cultivating_algae.htm); NREL,
2005
 Department of Energy, Office of Fuel Development. “Aquatic Species Program”. 1996.
 Enhanced Biofuels & Technologies Ltd. 2007. Accessed: http://www.ebtplc.com/c4c.htm
 Guiry, M.D. and Blunden, G. (Eds) 1991. Seaweed Resources in Europe: Uses and Potential.
John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-92947-6
 Mumford, T.F. and Miura, A. 1988. 4. Porphyra as food: cultivation and economics. p.87 — 117. In
Lembi, C.A. and Waaland, J.R. (Ed.) Algae and Human Affairs. 1988. Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 0 521 32115 8
 John Sheehan, Terri Dunahay, John Benemann and Paul Roessler, "A Look Back at the U.S.
Department of Energy's Aquatic Species Program-Bio-diesel from Algae, Closeout Report", July
1998, NREL/TP-580-24 190 http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24190.pdf
 Michael Briggs, Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae, University of New Hampshire,
Physics Department, revised August 2004. http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
 Sheehan, J., T. Dunahay, J. Benemann, and P. Roessler. 1998. A look back at the U.S.
Department of Energy’s aquatic species program - Biodiesel from algae. US Dept. Energy, Office
of Fuels Development, Nat. Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO.
 Solix BioFuels, 2006. accessed:
http://www.solixbiofuels.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26

 Websites:
 http://www.ecology.com/dr-jacks-natural-world/most-important-organism/index.html
 http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.html