The College of William and Mary, in collaboration with industry and other universities, plans to turn the fish-killing algae into biodiesel fuel for cars, airplanes, and just about anything else that guzzles gasoline.

On Thursday, Tracy, a physics professor, along with other university officials and a handful of students, worked to assemble the machine — or flume — tasked with the job.

A rectangle-shaped floating dock with its midsection removed, the flume acts as a channel that will trap nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients that form oxygen-deprived dead zones in the lake and Chesapeake Bay watershed.

“Think of it as a rain-gutter-type device,” said Karl Kuschner, the university’s research scientist leading the effort. “We’ll be creating a 40-foot long hole in the water.”

Continue Reading

Currently, hydrocarbon fuels such as diesel and gasoline require complex chemical processing to be manufactured and are made primarily from non-renewable fossil fuels, which are being depleted, whereas the single-cell algae use photosynthesis and are renewable resources, said John Morgan, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Purdue.

The Purdue portion of the work focuses on creating algae that produce more lipids, the precursor of biofuels. The algae harness solar energy to make lipids from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

“Algae now store some of their carbon as lipids, but not enough to be useful in producing biodiesel,” Morgan said. “We need to genetically engineer them to increase the amount of lipids they accumulate.”

The three-year project is funded with a grant of more than $4 million from U.S. Department of Energy and is led by Martin Spalding, a professor in the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology at Iowa State. About $1 million of the grant, which is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is funding Purdue’s portion of the research, which began earlier this year.

“The grant was highly competitive, with only 1 percent of applicants being selected,” said Arvind Varma, Purdue’s R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and head of the School of Chemical Engineering. “It’s important work that aims to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and our carbon footprint.”

The algae are being grown in a “bioreactor” in Morgan’s laboratory in the Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering. Algae carry out photosynthesis using energy from light to convert carbon dioxide into a variety of products, including lipids.

“The carbon dioxide is routed in many directions to produce various products, and we are trying to maximize traffic in the specific pathway that leads to lipid storage,” Morgan said. “We want to maximize the accumulation of lipids, which can then be harvested and turned into biodiesel.”

The Purdue group will create “flux maps” that reveal the speed of reactions along many “metabolic pathways” inside algae, information that should enable researchers to engineer algae to store more lipids.

Other researchers in the project will focus on creating algae that thrive in higher temperatures than natural algae can tolerate. The elevated temperature kills contaminants that hinder algae growth. Another facet of the work will focus on increasing “carbon dioxide assimilation,” the first of many steps leading to lipid storage.

Source : Purdue Press Release

With the snipping of a ribbon, the Center of Excellence for Hazardous Materials Management moved its Algae Biofuels Project from pilot scale to the commercial demonstration level.

Located on the grounds of the New Mexico State University Agriculture Science Center south of Artesia, this phase of the project expects to be in full operation by Sept. 1, producing algae that will be harvested and processed into biodiesel fuel.

The project has the potential to produce 5,000 gallons of oil per acre per year, according to Doug Lynn, executive director of CEHMM.

The center has been conducting applied research in the growth, harvest and extraction of oil from algae to find the most productive species for the production of biofuel.

Local, state and national officials were on hand to mark the project’s progress.

“The money we’ve received from the state has been a major help: the state of New Mexico has recognized that we have to have move to other (nontraditional) energy sources,” said Rep. John Heaton.

“With 5,000 acres in production, it would produce half of the diesel fuel required for (the state of) New Mexico,” said Heaton, or 25 million gallons of biodiesel fuel.

U.S. Rep. Harry Teague praised the impact the project will have on reducing the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

“The work CEHMM will do in commercial demonstration ponds will make huge advances in America’s energy portfolio by reducing dependence on foreign oil,” Teague said. “Algae is the newest biofuel to become credible.”

The project has been a partnership between CEHMM and the U.S. Department of Energy, New Mexico State University, the State of New Mexico’s Energy Innovation Fund and the city of Carlsbad, Lynn noted.

“It’s about energy, but it’s also about the economy and creating jobs,” said Doug Lynn, executive director of CEHMM.

The project will not only provide a fuel source, it will create 165 high-paying, technical jobs in southeast New Mexico, Lynn said.

Source : CEHMM Website

Los Angeles, CA May 20, 2010 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, announced today that it recently launched MAX ONE, its first mobile algae extraction laboratory. A private party of investors and supporters celebrated the unveiling at the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles.

The trailer-based system will visit algae producing companies in the US to demonstrate how OriginOil’s Single Step Extraction™ process can help them harvest their algae efficiently and cost-effectively. The system is capable of extracting oil from algae at a rate of five gallons per minute, enough to demonstrate feasibility to potential customers.

“Algae can’t succeed as a biofuel without an economical and energy-efficient way to harvest it,” said Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginOil. “That’s why algae companies are eager to test our process as soon as possible. Now we can pull up in the trailer, process their algae, and analyze it for them on the spot.”

MAX ONE was launched on May 17th in front of an audience of invited investors and supporters who toured the mobile system and applauded the OriginOil technology team. Photos and video of the unveiling can be found on the MAX One event page.

This is more than just a strategy to sell more extraction systems, said Eckelberry. “Every algae strain out there has its own extraction profile, and there are thousands of strains,” he said. “This is a great chance to document all the different strains which will help us roll out through partners worldwide.”

While it is currently working with pioneering producers, OriginOil plans to work in the future through country and regional partners, as well as specialized manufacturers and service organizations worldwide.

On May 18th, Eckelberry participated in an industry panel at the sold-out Algae World Summit, a conference that is focused on the algae value chain and which OriginOil helped to create. He reported on the launch of MAX ONE and on the effort to document algae strains. He called for closer industry collaboration, focusing less on the differences between companies than on their shared need to get algae production scaled up quickly to meet fast-expanding demand.

Press Release

Students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created Bio-Grow, a device made from various computer parts that serves as a reservoir to cultivate algae.

The algae can then be used in biodiesel production, which could potentially replace petroleum in the futures.

“If someone had one of these in their homes, they would cultivate algae and extract it,” said team member and undergraduate student Megan Kenney. “Then they could take it into a gas company that was set up with an oil filtration facility and get credit off their gas.”

Kenney, along with undergraduate students Timothy Harvey, Elliot Reese and Mark Schnitzer, and graduate student Saeidreza Shiftehfar was focused on finding a way to be green, and ended up winning second place in the International Electronic Waste Competition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with their design.

“The whole point of our project was two different concepts,” Schnitzer said. “To use electronic waste and to solve a green issue in the world.”

Which is why the team chose to use old electronics to build the device called an algae bioreactor. It encourages photosynthesis, the chemical reaction that happens in plants, which uses sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into sugar.

Continue Reading

For example, Californian company OriginOil has unveiled a pilot system for algae growth and harvesting. At the heart of the new system is a series of 200-gallon tanks which can be individually configured and managed for various strains, growth strategies, and lighting geometries. The tanks are illuminated with LED light sticks submerged in icicle-like arrays. A stirrer circulates the algae slowly around the lights.

Once the algae reaches harvest concentration they are sent to the integrated extraction system, a combination of ultrasound generation and low-power electromagnetic pulsing. This new system has a throughput of five gallons per minute, which easily keeps up with the daily output of the pilot system. After extraction, a series of settling tanks separates the oils and biomass for eventual use as fuel and valuable by-products. A water recycling system completes the loop so the process can start again.

Continue Reading

The Coyote Gulch Demonstration Facility is expected to be producing
the equivalent of 3,000 gallons per acre, per year of algal oil by late
2009. During the peak growth season, microalgae can be harvested every
5-7 days. The total facility is located on a two-acre site in
southwestern Colorado, on land provided by Solix’s partner, the
Southern Ute Indian Tribe, and is fully integrated with an industrial
plant producing CO2 and water as waste products. Solix has plans to
expand to more acres of production at the Coyote Gulch location in the
near future. In addition, as the site expands, the Coyote Gulch
Demonstration Facility will provide new jobs to the Durango area in
southwestern Colorado.

Rich Schoonover, Solix’s chief operating officer, oversaw Thursday’s
inoculation: “Today’s inoculation was an exciting moment for Solix, the
state of Colorado and our country. We are ready to prove to the world
the viability of algae as an alternative to petroleum-based fuels.”

“The inoculation of the Coyote Gulch Demonstration Facility marks a
major milestone for the algal fuel industry,” said Doug Henston, chief
executive officer of Solix. “We are proud to contribute to this new era
of algal fuel production, making Solix an alternative energy industry
leader,” he continued. Solix’s technology responds to the strategic
imperatives of the new energy economy, namely renewable sources of
energy, diversification from petroleum-based fossil fuels and job
creation. We are excited to be creating a viable alternative energy
source to petroleum-based fuels and new jobs in the process,” said Rich
Schoonover.

Solix Press Release

In addition to integrating this process into its own production system, OriginOil plans to commercialise the patent-pending process for use by others in the algae industry.

Initial testing indicates that the new algae oil extraction process is simpler and more efficient than current systems, without requiring chemicals or significant capital expenditure for heavy machinery.

A time-lapse video posted here on the company’s website begins with a batch of algae that has just gone through OriginOil’s process. In less than an hour, the oil, water and biomass separate by gravity alone.

Continue Reading

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A study undertaken by Life Cycle Associates, LLC, using the Argonne National Laboratories GREET model, concluded that full lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from field-to-wheels for Solazyme’s algal biofuel, SoladieselTM, are 85 to 93 percent lower than standard petroleum based ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). The analysis also reveals that Solazyme’s advanced biofuels result in a significantly lower carbon footprint than any currently available first-generation biofuels.

“Solazyme’s advanced biofuels substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions per mile driven over petroleum-based fuels and result in much lower carbon emissions than currently available first generation biofuels. Lower process energy inputs combined with the production of algae derived feed results in much lower GHG emissions than currently available first-generation biofuels,” said Stefan Unnasch, President of Life Cycle Associates, LLC. “With findings like these, we are confident that algal-biofuels have the potential to play a significant role in alternative fuels and are excited that such a promising technology is in commercial development.”

Additionally, testing undertaken by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) ReFUEL laboratory shows that Solazyme, Inc.’s SoladieselBDTM significantly outperforms ULSD in total Hydrocarbons (THC), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Particulate Matter tailpipe emissions. This includes an approximately 30 percent reduction in particulates, an approximately 20 percent reduction in CO and an approximately 10 percent reduction in THC.

“Solazyme is committed to working with the most rigorous and well-respected external experts to independently validate the real-world environmental benefits of our technologies. Part of our mandate is to ensure we are producing products that will meet our growing energy needs in an effective, green and highly-sustainable way,” said Jonathan Wolfson, CEO of Solazyme. “Solazyme’s SoladieselTM can exploit a wide variety of non-food feedstocks including cellulosics to achieve up to a 93 percent reduction in GHG emissions. We are very pleased with the findings by both NREL and Life Cycle Associates and look forward to playing a significant role in providing the clean, renewable fuels of the future.”

About Solazyme:

Solazyme, Inc. is a renewable oil production company that harnesses the power of microalgae to produce clean and scalable high performance biofuels, “green” chemicals and health products. The company was founded in 2003 and has its headquarters in South San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.solazyme.com.

Already, they are looking for ways to commercialize their discovery, tapping nanotechnology and biofuel company Catilin to aid them in research, development and eventual marketing plans. The three-year project responsible for developing the nanofarming approach is supported by $885,000 from the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, as well as $216,000 from Catilin and $16,000 from the university.

Gathering oil from algae isn’t a new concept, but this technique of leaving the algae unharmed is the first of its kind. It lowers production costs and quickens the plants’ oil-generation cycles. Catilin is also a vital partner because it offers a catalyst that can easily and cheaply turn the oil into certified biodiesel.

Continue Reading