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Biodiesel From Algae
February 8, 2007 4:30 PM
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When it comes to clean-burning biofuels, Colorado is a national leader. One of the nations largest corn-to-ethanol plants, Great Western in Greeley, buys from growers in several states. BlueSun Biodiesel outside of Alamosa does something similar, turning soy, canola and other oilseed crops into a bio-diesel blend. These industries are growing and demand for alternative fuels is strong, but in the race for biofuel cash-crops a new contender might end up the superstar. Its a small plant, familiar to tropical fish owners as the green scum that forms on their aquarium glass. From Fort Collins, Shelley Schlender reports on the fuel potential from algae.
TRUCK SOUNDS
SCHLENDER: Black smoke belches from a diesel-powered truck as the driver throttles the engine.
Diesel fuel powers trucks, boats, trains and other engines. But the foul-smelling fumes are linked to increased rates of cancer and asthma, and they add greenhous gases to the atmosphere.
Oil-rich plants such as soy offer a cleaner energy alternative, but Jim Sears says these food crops cant meet all our diesel needs. The Colorado-based entrepreneur says, even in America's bountiful croplands, farmers couldn't grow enough oilseed crops to meet demand.
SEARS: Right now, if we were to use all the normal sources we know about, such as canola oil, soy, things like this to make biodiesel, the industry thinks they could make 1 billion gallons (3.7 billion liters) a year, which sounds like a lot, but we currently use 60 billion gallons (227 billion liters) a year of diesel.
SCHLENDER: Fortunately, Sears says, an unconventional crop could produce 100 times more biodiesel per acre than either canola or soy. It can thrive in places where other crops cant grow at all, and it only requires the equivalent of 5 centimeters of rain a year.
To demonstrate his crops potential, Sears leads the way inside a former coal coal-fired electric power plant thats now the Engines and Energy Conversion laboratory at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. CSU and Sears' small company, Solix Biofuels, have teamed up for this research.
Sears passes a two-story tall engine that may soon be running on his biodiesel, and he heads to a quieter room where test batches of algae grow in glass beakers. The water ranges from pale yellow to soft Irish green, thanks to millions of microscopic algae. Biologist Nick Rancis lifts a favorite specimen.
SOUNDS OF CLINKING GLASS.
RANCIS: Here we have a species of green algae that grows in fresh water. As you can see, it grows very high density. You cant even see through it when you hold it up to the light.
SCHLENDER: Rancis says this strain produces enormous amounts of fatup to 50 percent of its body weight. And while producing oil from soy or canola generally requires a three- to five-month growing season, some algae are so prolific, over half a batch can be harvested for oil production every day.
RANCIS: They can double or triple overnight.
SCHLENDER: For industrial production, the researchers are designing enormous growing troughs, wider than two trucks side by side, as long as a football field, and grouped by the thousands around processing plants. In this way, Sears says, algae could supply all U-S diesel on a fraction of the nations farmland.
SEARS: We farm about 1 billion [400-million hectares] acres of land in the United States. To cover all our diesel needs, wed need to convert just 1% of that. And actually we wouldnt have to convert any of our arable land. We could use desert land to grow this algae. It doesnt require good soil, just flat land, carbon dioxide and sunlight.
SCHLENDER: Carbon dioxide helps algae grow fast and fat, so the team plans to siphon it from fossil fuel power plant exhaust, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And there are other ways to get the gas.
SEARS: It would actually start with biomass such as switch grass or wood, where in some countries are the only type of fuel that they have anyway. In that case, the grass, the trees, the wood, pull the carbon dioxide out of the air, then we burn it as fuel and feed the carbon dioxide to the algae. So then, we have a truly carbon neutral technology. No carbon was added to the atmosphere during all these conversion steps. Its essentially solar powered fuel.
SCHLENDER: To conserve water, Sears says, the growing troughs are sealed. The algae grows under a clear plastic lid that allows in plenty of sunlight, but keeps the water the plants are floating in from evaporating.
SEARS: It is about 1,000 times more efficient to produce fuel from algae than it is from an irrigated crop. Theres enough water even in the desert from natural rainfall to support this technology.
SCHLENDER: Affordable biodiesel is an important focus of the research team, and Brian Wilson, who directs this Engines and Energy Conversion lab, says the projections look promising.
WILSON: We believe the technology could be cost competitive with $50 a barrel oil, which is basically where we are right now. Even last year, we were up to $70 a barrel.
SCHLENDER: Because building a vast new production system is an enormous undertaking, Sears predicts that it will be five to ten years before biodiesel from algae becomes commonplace.
However, Eric Jarvis, a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Lab, cautions that it may take longer.
JARVIS: I wouldnt expect it to meet a large demand for diesel in that time frame, but Im hoping to see some good demonstrations in the next 5 to 10 years.
SCHLENDER: He adds that in the last two years, the interest in this technology has grown tremendously.
JARVIS: I get phone calls every week from people trying to get into this area.
SCHLENDER: Whether it takes five years, a decade or a little longer, Jim Sears says hes certain that biodiesel from algae will become commonplace.
SEARS: This is by far the most scalable and reasonable way to make biofuels in the future in an endlessly sustainable method.
SCHLENDER: As he considers that future, a train whistle sounds in the distance.
SEARS: That train is the train that used to bring the coal to this power plant, and indeed it is one of the future customers.
SCHLENDER: The National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden plans to step up their research and development of biodiesel from algae within the year, and they estimate that along with Colorado State and Solix Biofuels, roughly a dozen other groups around the world are developing similar projects, increasing the likelihood that someday soon, clean-burning algae biodiesel will be the fuel of choice for trucks, boats, and trains.
Posted by Matthias Barker on February 8, 2007 4:30 PM | Permalink
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