Can Microalgae Solve Global Fuel and Environmental Challenges?

[joema]

I don't know of any multi-fuel engine that can do gasoline and diesel. The compression ratios are just too different. This isn't a trivial transition at all. I am not saying that it cannot happen, but it will take decades.

That is correct, however transition from gas to diesel uses already-existing technology.

That technology today can provide operational characteristics, range and performance familiar to most consumers.

IOW they can refuel it at a local station, accelerate briskly, and drive 300 miles.

The distribution chain (pipelines, tanker trucks, retail fuel pumps), etc already exists.

It's true despite all that it would take decades to transition the U.S. or world vehicle fleet to (say) 90% diesel engines fueled with algae-produced biodiesel.

However -- compare this to other alternative transportation technologies (hydrogen fuel cells, battery electric, etc) AND the energy sources associated with each of those.

Those typically require totally new vehicle technology, totally new distribution infrastructure, and often entail different operational characteristics. Can a safe, reliable fuel cell vehicle be economically produced in quantities of hundreds of millions? Nobody knows. We do know that's possible with diesel vehicles today, and the end-to-end energy efficiency is probably equal or better than fuel cell vehicles.

Of course hybrid battery/electric diesels are also possible with today's technology (think a diesel Prius), so that's an additional option for certain applications.

However long it would take for a major algae/biodiesel transition, it would take much longer for any other alternative.

Also it's unclear whether the energy sources for the other alternatives can be scaled upward to the titanic industrial levels required to make a meaningful difference. E.g, the world consumes about 100 quadrillion BTU (2.9E16 watt hours) of transportation energy per year. Providing a meaningful % of that from any alternative source is very difficult. Biodiesel from algae seems the only one with the theoretical yield/acre and net energy balance which could fulfill this within the next 20-30 years.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

However long it would take for a major algae/biodiesel transition, it would take much longer for any other alternative.

That is I believe the most important conclusion to recognize. However long it will take, which we can debate to no end, biodiesel-from-alage is the shortest and most direct path to a complete energy solution. Obviously many other alternatives do and will increasingly contribute to the energy supply, but it appears to me that algae is the only solution viable today that can scale-up to meet the demand for petro energy.

As for the time required to make such a conversion, we could have done this for the price of the Iraq war, which makes me want to cry... I think the time required for such a conversion is largely dependent on political will and the support that it gets publically. And when one considers the 1/2 trillion dollar annual contribution to the economy and the millions of jobs that such an effort would create, it seems self-evident that the project could be justified.

This is one concept that the dems have finally picked up: Going green means jobs!

There are two primary reasons why we don't drive diesel cars in the US today.

1). Diesel cars made in the 1970s were loud, smokey, and gutless. As result, they were very unpopular.

Diesel car technology has evolved a great deal since then and its use has continued and is common in many countries, if not most. Noteworthy is that a for the first time ever, a diesel car won at Le Mans. Auto racing is THE ultimate test of the latest automotive technologies: You win, or you lose. If you have an advantage, you win.

2). The sulfur that provided lubrication in diesel fuel systems was responsible in part for "acid rain" as well as other environmental contaminants. For that reason most diesel cars could not meet the revised EPA standards for emissions.

The new, "clean diesel engines", and the requirement to use ultra-low sulfur fuels makes the sale of diesel cars practical in the US once again. Most auto companies are planning to introduce diesel cars in the US over the next few years, but this will depend in part on demand, which gets back to political will and support. As for large trucks, the conversion to biodiesel is well under way, so from what I see that's basically a done deal. As long as we stay above the $3/gallon mark for petro it seems that biodiesel is competitive, which is in the end all that matters for a viable product.

Also it's unclear whether the energy sources for the other alternatives can be scaled upward to the titanic industrial levels required to make a meaningful difference. E.g, the world consumes about 100 quadrillion BTU (2.9E16 watt hours) of transportation energy per year. Providing a meaningful % of that from any alternative source is very difficult. Biodiesel from algae seems the only one with the theoretical yield/acre and net energy balance which could fulfill this within the next 20-30 years.

As you know, we have run these numbers many different ways and I don't see any other viable option at this time. In principle we could cover the deserts with solar panels, but the price per acre is astronomical as compared to algae, and we still have to convert the energy to a form useful for transportation.

 

[OmCheeto]

Noteworthy is that a for the first time ever, a diesel car won at Le Mans - auto racing is THE ultimate test of the latest automotive technologies: You win, or you lose. If you have an advantage, you win.

So when is a Tesla-esque auto going to enter the fray?
Change out the battery pack in the pits and whoooosh!
(you know where I'm going with this...)

As you know, we have run these numbers many different ways and I don't see any other viable option at this time. In principle we could cover the deserts with solar panels, but the price per acre is astronomical as compared to algae, and we still have to convert the energy to a form useful for transportation.

I got the new lower unit for my electric outboard conversion and finished the mating yesterday and completed several hours of data accrual and determined that my $10/day leisure trip will now cost 20 cents. Between rain showers, I searched for a 4 stroke 5 hp water cooled diesel engine. (I am an advocate of utilizing current technologies whilst we wait for the future). For some reason, only Chinese web sites popped up...

But I have digressed... as usual...
I have 40 gallons of unused ichthyological apparatii that are sitting idle. I really want to start growing some really slimy stuff. Which strain do you recommend?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

All of the existing gasoline vehicles will have to finish out their "lifespan".

True in principle, but signficant tax benefits could help to ensure that the change happens more quickly. These can be justified in the face of the wealth created by producing fuel domestically.

Also, we don't really know what will happen to the price of petroleum. It is possible that we will see spikes in the price; maybe even extreme spikes due to weather related events such as we saw with Katrina, and shortages resulting from our limited refining capacity generally, military conflicts, and perhaps due to political events. Any one of these scenarios could temporarily drive the price of petro based fuels to $10 per gallon or higher by some estimates. It wouldn't take much of this to drive the market to alternative fuels, which we see happening even now at $4 per gallon and less. And this would be especially true for the transportation industry as well as people who drive older cars and who have to be budget conscious. But most important of all, imagine the implications if we had an international crisis and the price of petro fuels hit $15 or $20 per gallon as is claimed to be possible? Whatever the worst-case number might be, this clearly becomes a matter of national security. So we might even justify dedicating some of the defense budget towards enabling algae-fuel production. We can certainly justify accelerating the entire conversion process with a focused political effort based on national security concerns as well as a campaign to create millions of new jobs. As an afterthought we might mention that it's carbon neutral.

 

[Dale]

As for the time required to make such a conversion, we could have done this for the price of the Iraq war, which makes me want to cry...

Or we could have done it several times over for the price of all of our various redistribution of wealth programs, which makes me want to scream.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

So when is a Tesla-esque auto going to enter the fray?
Change out the battery pack in the pits and whoooosh!
(you know where I'm going with this...)

Right now the batteries weigh 900 lbs and probably cost at least $50,000. The car itself sells for about $80-90k, so I would assume that the motor and drives aren't cheap.

A new diesel engine for a standard sized car probably costs about $5000 and weighs a few hundred pounds.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The bottom line is that the algae option is now viable because the price of fuel is high enough. This has only happened over the last few years.

 

[mheslep]

Right now the batteries weigh 900 lbs and probably cost at least $50,000. The car itself sells for about $80-90k, so I would assume that the motor and drives aren't cheap.

A new diesel engine for a standard sized car probably costs about $5000 and weighs a few hundred pounds.

Well the Tesla is a limited production sports car. GM's Lutz says the Chevy Volt will be $30k. 120HP electric, batteries for 30-40 mile range. Electric (plug ins) are very close to practical now for around town driving. Cost is not really the problem for plugin electric cars. Its the range/re charge time that will be awhile yet before E plug-ins can compete w/ a 5 minute fill up on hydrocarbon fuels.
http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/news/2008/01/lutz_volt_qa

ICE engine even less than that - $1-2k factory cost.

 

[joema]

...Cost is not really the problem for plugin electric cars. Its the range/re charge time that will be awhile yet before E plug-ins can compete w/ a 5 minute fill up on hydrocarbon fuels...

Even when that happens, plugin electric cars don't solve the transportation energy problem -- they merely push the problem elsewhere.

Battery electrics, hybrids and variants are a good idea from an efficiency standpoint in urban driving.

However those will not solve the transportation energy problem, no matter how widely deployed.

The energy they consume must come from somewhere. Nothing is free. A few thousand electric cars (out of 100s of millions of vehicles) won't cause much problem, nor contribute much benefit.

However scaled up to a level producing significant benefit (many millions of vehicles), it will demand new energy sources to supply them. E.g, supplying only 1/2 of world transportation energy via electric vehicles would require construction of 1,600 new one gigawatt power plants.

By contrast biodiesel from algae is a new renewable energy source, combined with an energy transport and storage system.

 

[mheslep]

Yes. Nice thing about E cars is the efficiency and zero distributed emissions.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=210919"

..However scaled up to a level producing significant benefit (many millions of vehicles), it will demand new energy sources to supply them. E.g, supplying only 1/2 of world transportation energy via electric vehicles would require construction of 1,600 new one gigawatt power plants.

By contrast biodiesel from algae is a new renewable energy source, combined with an energy transport and storage system.

Not much contrast there in terms of energy. The system needs 1600 gigawatts either way: power plants or continuous fuel flow straight to vehicles. Biofuel industry expansion is well underway though, increasing production 300,000 barrels every day. Of course demand is increasing at 900,000 barrels a day, still 600k light.

 

[baywax]

Zapper Z mentioned that algae is a significant source of Hydrogen.

Is the process of collecting H2 from algae as inefficient as it is from electrolysis or other means of gathering it?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Note that Zapper only forwarded the news release.

No, right now getting hydrogen from algae is about as efficient as getting cellulosic ethanol from wild grasses - single digit efficiencies.

 

[OmCheeto]

Note that Zapper only forwarded the news release.

No, right now getting hydrogen from algae is about as efficient as getting cellulosic ethanol from wild grasses - single digit efficiencies.

What was the name of that group of beings in Vonneguts book? Tramfalmagorians? I seem to remember them giggling during the movie.

This post about H2 producing algae looks like a script for a TV show that they might enjoy:

Earthlings genetically enhance algae to produce copious amounts of hydrogen. The enhanced algae escape and meet their oxygen producing siblings. Humans spend the next few hundred years running away from spontaneously combusting ponds...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five
Tralfamadorian

 

[baywax]

Note that Zapper only forwarded the news release.

No, right now getting hydrogen from algae is about as efficient as getting cellulosic ethanol from wild grasses - single digit efficiencies.

Thanks Ivan... hopefully wild grasses will be left out of the process then. I'm part owner in a 400 acre reserve of wild prairie grassland. The local township will annex it if it isn't developed soon. So even if it isn't used for ethanol, it will either be used to hide the sewage lines or it'll be wiped out by genetically-modified cross-pollination.

Kind of an "ice-nine" situation.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

On a related note:

The ability of corals to change the type of symbiotic algae they contain may allow them to adapt to rising seawater temperatures caused by global warming, scientists have found.

Madeleine van Oppen and Ray Berkelmans of the Australian Institute of Marine Science studied the Indo-Pacific SPS coral Acropora millepora and found that, in some circumstances, adult corals were capable of developing increased tolerance to higher water temperature through switching the type of symbiotic algae held in their tissues.

The study, which used both transplantation and experimental manipulation, has been published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society and found that the increased thermal tolerance was a direct result of a change in the type of zooxanthellae held in the host coral's tissues from Symbiodinium type C to type D. [continued]

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=1054

 

[mheslep]

... So you'd need some 40-200 m² fuel production area per car. How far am I off? Is this feasible as prominent fuel source for the future?

Usually we consider the total measured energy demand based on gallons per year and BTU per gallon, but using your numbers:

At 200 sq meters per car and an estimated 243 million cars in the US, we find a total required area of about 19,000 sq miles - about 140 X 140 miles to completely replace gasoline.

No problem. That is about 0.5% of the total area of land and water in the US. [water area is about 10% of the land area, and both may be used to grow algae]. In fact we could do it by using only 10% of the water area.

Ethanol from corn would require almost the entire land area of the US [assuming that it's not really a net negative, which may be the case].

My goal is to replace not only gasoline, but also petro-diesel and coal. This basically doubles the requirement. Also, as a practical matter I would use a conversion efficiency of 5%, not 10%, but then again a good part of the US is farther south than 45 degrees latitude. Processing efficiency is likely about 70% and improving. The oil content of the algae by weight is typically between 30-60%. And a good part of what's not oil is sugar that can be used to make ethanol.

All of this ignores advancements from the biological side, so it will get even better.
...

Following up on Andre's feasibility question and Ivan's energy assumptions with Ethanol usage for comparison:

The US planned on having 90.5x10^6 acres of corn planned for 2007 (40% of world production BTW). Now according to http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/April06/Features/charts/feature4_Basel.jpg" . That is 21K square miles of US farmland going right now into Ethanol. Convert that to Algae with the above assumptions and oil is done.

A question on algae production energy needs though: part of the oft cited problem w/ Ethanol is all of the energy that goes into producing it - land preparation, just driving tractors about is part of that hit. Its not clear if this is accounted for in the above 10% (5%) efficiency assumptions?

 

[mheslep]

Same subject run another way:
Up thread Ivan gives us a figure of 10^4 gal/acre-year of fuel from algae. Starting from that instead of solar and car counts:

US total Oil use: 20Mbbl/day or 307x10^9 gal/year. Thus 307x10^5, or 30.7 million acres required to cover all US oil use, not just cars. So that's about double the 2007 US ethanol corn crop acreage, still no problem. The other existing energy crops such as soybean diesel should be converted as well. Note that only half of that would be required to totally eliminate oil imports.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Note again that the actual limit for production is widely disputed. Some sources argue that a theoretical limit of 5000 gallons per acre-year exists, while others argue that they have real data showing yields of 10,000 gpay and higher. One of the problems that I have found is that many times the authors get lazy about specifying which units they are using - gallons, liters, acres, hectares, sq meters, sq feet, per day, per year, etc. - which causes confusion.

 

[mheslep]

Note again that the actual limit for production is widely disputed. Some sources argue that a theoretical limit of 5000 gallons per acre-year exists, while others argue that they have real data showing yields of 10,000 gpay and higher. One of the problems that I have found is that many times the authors get lazy about specifying which units they are using - gallons, liters, acres, hectares, sq meters, sq feet, per day, per year, etc. - which causes confusion.

Are these figure given in terms of net energy produced or is that off the books? That is, some percentage of fuel has to be used to run the paddle wheels, pump CO2, etc. Is that typically included in these gpay figures? If not, what's a reasonable estimate of energy usage in production?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

That is one number bantered as a theoretical upper limit based solely on the solar energy input, so in that case the processing efficiency has to be applied to that number. Of course the big assumption made is the solar conversion efficiency of the algae itself...and the PAR - photosynthetically active radiation - for a given strain. In many cases I have been unable to find any empirical data except for the few most popular strains. The processing efficiency is also widely disputed in part because there are many different methods used. Normally I see the processing efficiency listed between 50% and 70%, but there are still practical issues such as plugged centrifuges, invasive strains, mutations, and other issues that reduce the yields or increase the labor or energy needed to produce the fuel.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Oh yes, as for units, we also get varying units of energy as well as differing units for solar flux, so the literature can be a bit of a mine field in this regard.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

This sounds like it could be a huge breakthrough. I was aware of the work in principle but don't know any specifics related to processing efficiency. They claim to use the sugar from standard food-friendly biomass sources to grow the algae very quickly without the need for sunlight. In effect, they collect the solar energy stored in other plant sources in the form of sugars, and use that to grow the algae. They even mention using switchgrass.

There is a brief video. I haven't had the time to investigate further yet.

South San Francisco, Calif. - January 22, 2008 - Solazyme, Inc., a synthetic biology company unleashing the power of aquatic microbes to create clean and scalable solutions for biofuel, industrial chemical, and health and wellness markets, today revealed the first ever algae-derived biodiesel fuel (SoladieselTM) to have undergone road testing by successfully powering a factory-standard automobile for long distances under typical driving conditions. The car and fuel are making their public debuts at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where they are also featured in Fields of Fuel, Josh Tickell's documentary about renewable fuels. Soladiesel biodiesel is clean, renewable, environmentally sustainable and scalable.

The algal biodiesel fueling the car is made through Solazyme's proprietary process for manufacturing high-value, functionally-tailored oils from algae. This process, which uses standard industrial fermentation equipment, yields a biofuel that significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions and is biodegradable, nontoxic and safe. Solazyme is currently producing thousands of gallons of algal oil and recently signed a biodiesel feedstock development and testing agreement with Chevron Technology Ventures, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc.

"Biodiesel from algae changes the landscape of renewable fuels," said Jonathan Wolfson, chief executive officer of Solazyme. "The concept of algal biofuel has been discussed for decades, and Solazyme's technology finally provides a scalable solution based on proven industrial processes. This fuel is just the first example of how algal oil will help the environment through new products that offer attractive economics and performance, as well as environmental benefits."

Soladiesel exceeds both the requirements of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) biodiesel standard D6751 and EN 14214, the European standard, which ensures that biodiesel can safely run any existing diesel engine. The car demonstrating Solazyme's biofuel at Sundance is running on its original, factory-standard diesel engine with no modifications, and is powered by the highest blend of biodiesel that engine manufacturers currently certify. By operating in the typical sub-freezing temperatures for the area in January, it also illustrates how Soladiesel provides better temperature properties than any traditional biodiesel.

"In demonstrating this new fuel alternative, we're responding to the need for a near-term solution that will also be cost effective and sustainable," added Harrison Dillon, president and chief technology officer of Solazyme. "Our technology combines all the key components: low carbon footprint, environmental sustainability, certified compatibility with existing vehicles and infrastructure, and energy security for our country."

###

About Solazyme:

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in South San Francisco, California, Solazyme is a leading biotechnology company focused on synthetic biology for the renewable bioproduction of fuels, industrial oleochemicals, and health and wellness ingredients from marine microbes. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.solazyme.com.

http://www.solazyme.com/news080122.shtml

I saw a report on this on the PBS Newshour tonight.

 

[Andre]

I don't know. The guy on the clip says:

...We actually feed sugar to the algae. They are thousand times more productive making oil when you feed them sugar than feeding them sunlight. The process runs non food feedstocks like corn stoves, switchgrass, wood chips...

Sounds fine, but the corn the grass and the wood took already their share of producing latent energy from sunlight. So that "thousand times" sounds misleading, looking at the total energy values. This is only cycling the already existing energy. There is actually no additional use of sunlight energy as for instance would have been possible if you'd cultivate algae with photosynthesis in desert type of areas with lots of sun, but unsuitable to grow crop.

Secondly, waste of corn, grass, wood has an essential role in the carbon cycle, as a biologic fertilizer. If you remove too much of that the biologic production will reduce and biotopes may degrade. It may be disturbing the balance in the biologic cycles.

Also if you can make sugar from corn grass and wood, you can also feed people with that.

 

[Andre]

Coming to think about, using deserts, you could actually create a win-win situation, crop and biofuel.

You would need a pipeline, bringing sea water into solar stills, where the algae are cultivated At the same time you can use the condensed water from the stills to irrigate adjacent terrain and grow appropriate crops.

 

[mheslep]

I don't know. The guy on the clip says:



Sounds fine, but the corn the grass and the wood took already their share of producing latent energy from sunlight. So that "thousand times" sounds misleading, looking at the total energy values. This is only cycling the already existing energy. There is actually no additional use of sunlight energy as for instance would have been possible if you'd cultivate algae with photosynthesis in desert type of areas with lots of sun, but unsuitable to grow crop.

Secondly, waste of corn, grass, wood has an essential role in the carbon cycle, as a biologic fertilizer. If you remove too much of that the biologic production will reduce and biotopes may degrade. It may be disturbing the balance in the biologic cycles.

Also if you can make sugar from corn grass and wood, you can also feed people with that.

Cellulosic based ethanol is an upcoming and almost viable technology; the enzyme conversion is apparently the economic hangup. If this algae scheme is thought of as just another method of converting cellulosic stock to fuel, diesel oil in this case, with the algae acting as the single organism converter then this appears viable. There are 80 some million acres of ethanol corn in the US, convert that to switch grass and there's enough energy captured therein to replace the US oil usage as shown elsewhere in this thread, depending of the efficiency of the algae process. Switch grass eliminates the food/fuel problem too.

 

[Andre]

There are 80 some million acres of ethanol corn in the US, convert that to switch grass and there's enough energy captured therein to replace the US oil usage as shown elsewhere in this thread, depending of the efficiency of the algae process. Switch grass eliminates the food/fuel problem too.

I'm not sure how closely we are talking along each other here (definition of communication). If you can grow corn or switch grass, you could produce food from that. Biofuel should not compete with food. Those 80 some million of acres should prevent this:.

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_food.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6481029.stm

 

[baywax]

I'm not sure how closely we are talking along each other here (definition of communication). If you can grow corn or switch grass, you could produce food from that. Biofuel should not compete with food. Those 80 some million of acres should prevent this:.

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_food.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6481029.stm

Good idea Andre.

We just got an order from the CDN govt that all liquid fuel, namely gas and diesel, has to be 5% or better ethanol or biodiesel by 2010. Now, its a nice step on the surface, but, somehow, I get the feeling their pandering to the agricultural voter base here. And like you say, we're burning people's food so we can dash about in our Lambourginis or be hip in the Hummer. We've got a company, Husky/Mohawk, that has added 10 percent ethanol since the beginning of time so its not hard to pull off. They use Cannola or a Genetically Modified version thereof as their source. Cannola is not necessarily a food product but it is competing for acreage with Wheat and other food crops. We don't have much desert here, mostly just lots of good agricultural land and mountains. Then there's Toronto...

 

[mheslep]

I'm not sure how closely we are talking along each other here (definition of communication). If you can grow corn or switch grass, you could produce food from that. Biofuel should not compete with food. Those 80 some million of acres should prevent this.

Well it is not clear to me. Switchgrass is of course a non-food stock so in one sense it is decoupled from the food supply. But then, as I think you are saying, it also uses some finite amount of land which may/may not be displacing food producing crops. IIRC switch grass doesn't require much in the way of tilled farm land so that is another decoupler.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Note also that they claim that their biodiesel is much better than biodiesel obtained by conventional means. They even claim to beat the low temp problem, which would be huge! It sounded to me like they have a cloud point that is no worse than petrodiesel. So it would seem that they are doing some "other things" not specifically discussed.

But again, I've seen claims like this come and go for decades. I have to wonder about the efficiency of the entire process. The energy collection and conversion efficiency of algae is hard to beat because they are microscopic and very simple. Geometrically, they would seem to maximize the use of the land or water area since we get 100% coverage, and they would seem to produce far more usable fuel per pound of fiber than other plants. Consider that the highest algae yields are 80% oil by weight. Typical yields for competitive strains are 50% oil by weight. But by using carbohydrates from biomass to grow the algae, we now have a solar to carbohydrate to oil conversion.

So specifically:

What is the land area [of alternative biomass sources] required to yield the energy obtained from one acre of algae - both in gross yields, and ultimately from plant to tank?

a) How much energy is required to harvest and process the biomass used to feed the algae.

b) How much energy is required to grow and process the algae.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Also, can their process be adapted to process algae grown by conventional methods? And how do those numbers look?