Nov
17
On the Hunt for Cheaper Algae
November 17, 2009 | 3 Comments
A major potential from algae is they could change the energy source of fuels from the ancient fossil fuels to current account renewable fuels. That goal has two Kansas State University engineers assessing systematic production methods that could make the costs of algae oil production more reasonable.
Algae production presents major obstacles to scaling at economical volumes. Algae needs exposed to light at shallow depth, only less than an inch or 2 to3 centimeters. Algae live and grow in water thus need a lot of water for production. The warm and sunniest places in the U.S. are water challenged. It isn’t going to be simple or need low capital requirements to farm algae.
Kansas State’s Wenqiao “Wayne” Yuan and Zhijian “Z.J.” Pei idea is to grow algae in the ocean on very large, supporting platforms. The idea provides lots of open area, and the plenty of water issue would be solved. The National Science Foundation awarded them a $98,560 Small Grant for Exploratory Research in 2009 for their work.
Algae are oil producers. Compared to soy, cottonseed, the rape crops and others the production per land area could be two or more orders of magnitude higher. That would be a major intensification of production. Today the labs and commercial investors primarily work on closed shallow ponds and bioreactor columns to grow algae. Both require major investments and operational attention. Algae oil remains very expensive – estimates range from the $40 to $60 per gallon – numbers that are 20 times competitive prices today.
Yuan who is an assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering at K-State, thinks it will be five to 10 years before scientists understand the fundamentals of large-scale algae production sufficiently that cost can be reduced to the target of about $5 a gallon. He says, “It will take that much time to really understand the fundamentals of large-scale algae production and to establish pilot projects.”
Pei who is a professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering at K-State with Yuan think food production land should not be used to produce algae for fuel. The food competition for land with the water matter has the two studying the feasibility of large-scale algae production in the ocean and how to engineer the production systems.
First they are working to identify oil-rich algae species that are inclined to settle down and grow en masse on a solid surface, a characteristic that will make algae production manageable and harvesting much simpler and less expensive.
Yuan makes the point; half the cost of growing algae is in providing a steady supply of food and water, the growth medium. Ocean locations offer those in abundance. Yuan says, “We think there is tremendous potential for algae oil production if we grow it on big platforms and incorporate the ocean into the system.”
These two academics are asking some very basic questions. What mechanisms do algae attach to various surfaces, what materials do algae prefer, and what surface textures, if any, encourage the algae to bloom and grow? They may be huge production cost improvements from finding the answers at the most basic levels.
Some results are already clear and generate some confidence on pressing on. In studies of just two species of algae characteristically high in oil content and fast growing, both species attached very well to a stainless steel thin film surface that was slightly dimpled. Once the algae attached, they grow very well, producing a green clump several millimeters thick.
Yuan says, “Just like geckoes cannot walk on a perfectly smooth surface, our results indicate that the algae attach better on a slightly textured surface.” Stainless steel was chosen because it is easy to machine and form textures, durable and reasonably cheap. The dimpled stainless steel samples used in the study were produced by a colleague at Northwestern University.
Yuan says, “We are doing very fundamental research now. We need to understand the algae attachment mechanism before we can select species more likely to attach to a solid support.”
Algae production is going to be a wholly synthesized process. Today’s agriculture and gardening are the result of slow migrating skills applied over generations. Everything along the algae production path is going to need optimized. It makes one wonder if the current investors, companies and other researchers might want to pay very close attention to the logic and results of the K-State research.
Yuan says while looking into the future, “Right now, we really are thinking in terms of a large-scale biological and mechanical production system.” The algae would grow on the thin-film surface submerged under the ocean. At some point, the growth surface rolls up into the sunlight and the algae dries. A harvesting knife at the end of the conveyor system scrapes off dried algae, at which point the surface submerges to become home to the next growth of oil-rich algal material.
Yuan and Pei and associates presented results of the surface studies in August at the 59th general assembly of CIRP, the International Academy for Production Engineering, in Boston. The academy is the only global organization representing the latest research and development activities in the area of production engineering.
The K-State team’s paper, “Feasibility Study of a Mechanical-Biological Energy Manufacturing System,” has been accepted for publication at The Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering.
Mankind has thousands of years of accumulated experience in agriculture with only a few decades in genetic improvements of the plants. The K-State team is getting those centuries compressed to years – making their effort the most important research in algae culture today.
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Algae will certainly play significant roles in new energy production processes. But let’s us the terminology correctly.
First, “algae” is plural for “alga.” One alga, many algae—always.
An alga is pronounced with a hard gee, “AL-gha.”
There are no such things as “AL-ghee” or “AL-gye.” Always, “AL-jee.”
But the crudest error (made in the article above) is to use the plural form “algae” as an adjective. No, one should not speak of “algae fuels.” That’s euqivalent of speaking of “hydrocarbons fuels.”
Let’s get it right. The adjective is “algal.” We are deailing here with potentional algal fuel production processes.
Alright boys and girls, let’s get this right one last time. One alga (AL-gha), many algae (Al-jee), for which the entire topic is algal.
Please dump “algae” as an adjective. It’s all algal.
Algae will certainly play significant roles in new energy production processes. But let’s use the terminology correctly.
First, “algae” is plural for “alga.” One alga, many algae—always.
An alga is pronounced with a hard gee, “AL-gha.”
There are no such things as “AL-ghee” or “AL-gye.” Always, “AL-jee.”
But the crudest error (made in the article above) is to use the plural form “algae” as an adjective. No, one should not speak of “algae fuels.” That’s euqivalent of speaking of “hydrocarbons fuels.”
Let’s get it right. The adjective is “algal.” We are deailing here with potentional algal fuel production processes.
Alright boys and girls, let’s get this right one last time. One alga (AL-gha), many algae (Al-jee), for which the entire topic is algal.
Please dump “algae” as an adjective. It’s all algal.
Sorry for the replication, and the spelling error in the first.
Anyway, let’s not speak of “algae production.”
[Enough of all this.]
–John Blakeman