Algae producers nearing commercial stage; facing “shade wall”, excessive bloom issues

May 5, 2008

In Florida, PetroAlgae said that it hoped to reach its commercial production stage next year, as algae producers begin to differentiate over varying methods of getting past the algae “shade wall” and other issues in achieving commercial scale. The shade wall refers to algae’s tendency to bloom so rapidly in large scale deployments that it blocks its own sunlight, while ventures such as GreenFuels have worked on excessive algae bloom problems in a pilot test with Arizona Public Service.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Aquaflow said that it has developed a scalable method for producing and harvesting algae in the wild, and envisioned expanding to a series of 1,000 acre facilities in the US and other countries.

Algae-based research and development continues to pick up in pace, even though the US Defense Department is estimating that the current production cost of algae oil exceeds $20 per gallon. Recent developments include:

A research team from the University of Texas has developed a new blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) that secretes a soft cellulose, glucose and sucrose. The team told Science Daily that the microbe “could provide a significant portion of the nation’s transportation fuel if production can be scaled up.” The cyanobacteria is grown from sunlight and salty water at facilities on non-agricultural land. The team said that the cellulose is a soft, gel-like type that is easy to break down, and that the microbes secrete the sugars and cellulose, making it possibly to continually harvest biofuels feedstock without destroying organisms and using powerful enzymes to extract sugars.
The University of New Hampshire Biodiesel Group said it would cost $308 billion to build enough algae farms to replace gasoline with algae-based biodiesel, and $47 billion per year to run the production system for 140 billion gallons, or $0.34 per gallon before transportation and retail costs. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory said it would take an algae field of up to 15,000 square miles. Producers and researchers are disagreeing over the wisdom of closed bioreactors versus open algae ponds. Proponents of reactors point to the control of the process, while companies such as Aquaflow Bionomic point to the affordability of open ponds.
In California, tests on Soladiesel from Solazyme were conducted by the Southwest Research Institute concluded that algae-based biodiesel has superior performance under cold weather conditions than biodiesel derived from other feedstocks.
The National Algae Association held its first meeting, which sold out as hundreds of algae investors and producers convened in Texas in April to discuss new ventures, and paths to profitability.
In the Netherlands, AlgaeLink announced a new process for extracting algae oil without using chemicals, drying or an oil press. The company said that its patent-pending technique uses 26 kilowatts of power to produce 12,000 gallons of algae oil per hour, with a yield of 50 percent from the initial algae paste.
In Texas, the state’s Emerging Technology Fund will provide $4 million to Texas AgriLife Research and General Atomics to conduct microalgae research and development.
In Virginia, researchers at Old Dominion University have successfully piloted a project to produce biodiesel feedstock by growing algae at municipal sewage treatment plants. The researchers hope that these algae production techniques could lead to reduced emissions of nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon dioxide into the air and surrounding bodies of water. The pilot project is producing up to 70,000 gallons of biodiesel per year.
In Minnesota, Xcel Energy has pledged $150,000 to assist in funding an algae-to-biodiesel research project sponsored by the University and the Metropolitan Council. The grant is a follow-on to more than $4.5 million given to five other University of Minnesota projects from the Xcel Energy Renewable Development Fund.
The US Department of Energy recently partnered with Chevron in a research effort to develop higher-yield strains of micro algae. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working on a project with Honeywell, General Electric and the University of North Dakota.
In Texas, US Sustainable Energy is awaiting lab results from a test of biocrude production using 20 pounds of algae as a feedstock. The company recently ran its initial test of 20 pounds of 5% oil-content algae feedstock with 40 percent water content, and resulted in an ignitable oil product.
In Arizona, PetroSun BioFuels Refining recently signed a joint venture to develop and operate a 30 Mgy algae biodiesel facility in Coolidge. Construction is projected to commence in the third quarter of this year. Late last fall, PetroSun announced a letter of intent to supply 54 million gallons of algal oil to a new 54 Mgy Bio-Alternatives biodiesel plant in south Louisiana. The initial delivery to Bio-Alternatives refinery will be in the third quarter of 2008.