06-12-2009 - Energy

Could algae be a key to our energy future?

I ask because I’ve been talking with some folks in the alt energy industry recently, and algae kept coming up as “the next big thing.” Why? Because the trend in alternative liquid fuel these days is towards “cellulosic” biofuel, and algae is a highly attractive source of cellulose, for several reasons.

First, algae are some of the most abundant organisms on earth–they grown in fresh and salt water under a variety of conditions. All you need is a body of water, sunlight and nutrients, and algae will thrive.

Second, algae are consummate consumers of carbon dioxide. So they play an important role in scrubbing the atmosphere of excess CO2.

Third, and most importantly, algae produce “oil” that can be relatively easily refined into fuel for vehicles, including cars, trucks and airplanes. The problem with switchgrass and corn stover and other potential raw materials for cellulosic biofuel is that its difficult and expensive to break the cellulose down into its component sugars, then ferment the sugars into alcohol that can then be turned into fuel. With algae you can skip the fermentation process and go directly from collecting algae oil to processing it into fuel.

When I spoke with Jason Pyle, CEO of Sapphire Energy (an algae biofuel company), he explained that while cultivating algae as an energy crop presents some challenges, they’re not insurmountable. The main challenge, for Pyle, is one that farmers and agricultural scientists deal with routinely–finding ways to breed plants to make them as useful as possible for human consumption. Put another way, the main hurdle for algae energy scientists is to take a wild plant–algae–and tame it, so to speak, by breeding varieties that allow for optimal planting, growing, and harvesting. Some algae will grow anywhere but don’t produce much oil. Other types produce an abundance of oil but will only grow under certain very specific conditions. Pyle is working with different algae strains to create hybrids that will grow under a wide variety of conditions AND produce a lot of oil.

How close is Sapphire to being able to make fuel from algae? Pyle gave me a 3-5 year estimate. Academic scientists I spoke with were a bit more cautious, but agreed that algae is worth investigating, for the reasons mentioned above.

In the end, algae may or may not end up playing a role in the new energy economy. What’s important, it seems to me, is that scientists in industry and academe and government are trying–and working together–to explore new energy options.

Written by jshere

3 Responses to “Energy from algae next big thing?”

1. Deborah Byrd says:

   May 12, 2009 at 9:30 pm

   Hi Jeremy interesting post. Did we tell you EarthSky is about to launch a new website? It’s due to launch around mid-June. And we’ll be adding ‘energy’ as a new category … so we’ve been talking a lot about energy options in the office. It’s a really tough subject! Lots of people have lots of different ideas about what might work. We’ve also heard about algae as a good possibility.

   Today we were talking about the idea being expressed by some that there might be a need to cut carbon emissions by 80% by the year 2050, if we want to avoid ‘catastrophic’ climate change. Not everyone agrees with this, of course, but we’ve been seeing this idea more and more. 80%!

   Guess that algae better get to growin’.

   Thanks for the great post.

   Deborah
   • Alan says:

     January 26, 2010 at 9:22 am

     This is in responce to Deborah and her 80% CO2 reduction by 2050 comment.

     Deborah about 87% of CO2 emissions from stationary sources comes from the really big emitters. i.e. coal and natural gas fired electric plants, lime, cement,refining and ethanol. If we can’t capture and process their CO2 emissions at a profit then there is no hope.

     But there is hope and better than hope there are solutions that can be applied to the problem now! The problem is inertia. It is hard to get large companies to move off of dead center. Part of the solution will be the EPA using a 2X4 across the head of the emitters to get their attention. Then hold out a carrot to put some encentive into rapid deployment of existing technologies that can take up to 100% of a companies CO2 emissions an turn this GHG into green products that will
     put people to work and make a profit. No govt. money needed, thank you.

     BTW The two most expensive “solutions”?? that one could think of are the ones the govt. is puting our resources into. They are liquifing CO2 and pumping it down in the rock and hoping it will stay there. VERY,VERY expensive and no hope of ever paying a dime back. The other idea is to use algae in outside raceways and use cheap solar to provide the power for photosyntsis of algae. Hello!!! the sun only shines less than 1/2 the time at the right intensity for effective algae growth. These plants emite 24/7/365. What are the sun people going to do at night and cloudy days??? There goes 60% of the CO2 up in the air!

     Regards,

     Alan
2. sanjeev says:

   May 13, 2009 at 7:09 pm

   and as if on cue, today one of the biggest algae to oil producers, Green Fuel Technologies has shut door due to inability to raise further funds in current credit crunch environment!

   http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10239916-54.html

   but earlier this week, this from Origin Oil

   http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/originoil-announces-breakthrough-process-to-extract-oil-from-algae-2009-05-01
3. ROBERT GIULIANI says:

   May 16, 2009 at 10:23 pm

   I have been thinking about algae fuel for my engine invention for a long time but haven’t been able to find details.
   I have a patented high torque power offset piston engine (patent no. 7,128,042). A variation of my engine is on my website: http://www.abetterengine.com.
   This engine should be very fuel efficient and may be ideal for algae fuel. Can you give me these two characteristics for algae fuel: 1. What is algae fuel’s best combustion pressure (psi) and 2. what is its best combustion expansion rate (ft/sec)?
   It is OK with me if you consult mechanical engineers or others about my engine and for answers to the two questions.