BPE 441

Biofuel Production from Microalgae

Research paper Due: 4/27/2001 BPE 441

Abstract: This paper examines the biofuels produced from algae and their ability to replace liquid fuel consumption in the US. Reasons for biofuel research are covered along with past efforts. It was found that microalgae can be genetically modified to secrete cellulose and produce high levels of lipids within their structure. These lipids can be extracted in multiple ways and converted into biodiesel. The cellulose is use in the fermentation of starch into ethanol. Limitations of this process were examined and found to be limited by space for farms and the technology that can use the fuels. The ability of the algae to sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere was also looked at and found that 90% of injected will be taken up by the algae and converted into oil and cell structure. It was also revealed that biodiesel releases less  during combustion while having a 35% higher efficiency in biodiesel engines

compared to gasoline engines. It was determined that ethanol has slightly less energy density than gasoline but more importantly can be produced in the US to offset reliance on foreign oil. The conversion processes of both fuels were also explained and examined.

Today our society has a high demand for energy in all sectors such as transportation, manufacturing, and economics just to name a few. There has been a widespread search for a sustainable energy source that will meet our needs without diminishing or heavily polluting the environment. Petroleum resources have been rapidly decreasing in energy return and availability wordwide. Both ethanol and biodiesel have been suggested as possible candidates for future fuels. These fuels have several sources but in order for them to be sustainable, we need to be able to produce them in a way that does not have environmental impacts and can be done without compromising the resources of future generations. Therefore a lot of research has been conducted with regard to biofuel

production from algae. Major research for biofuel production from algae began in the 1980 s due to the oil shortages in the United States during the 70 s and the Department Of Energy s concern for a reliable fuel source. There are several reasons for the production and combustion of these biofuels. The combustion of both ethanol and biodiesel releases less  into the atmosphere than

conventional petroleum based fuels. Another benefit for biofuel production is that the algae used will sequester during growth. One last benefit is that the production of biofuels requires less energy

input (fuel used to produce same fuel) than petro fuel sources. So there seems to be a lot of good reasons to produce biofuels from algae, but what are the implications of biofuel production from algae and where can these fuels be used? Biofuels production became a hot topic following the oil shortages in the 1970 s. The DOE, specifically the Aquatic Species Division, began research on producing biodiesel from algae with high lipidcontent grown in ponds. They used waste

from coal fired power plants to aid in the growth of the

algae, for this reason they wanted to test algae that could grow in extreme conditions in relation to pH, temperature and salinity. These are the reasons microalgae have been the main focus, mainly green algae and diatoms (John Sheehan et al., 1998). Microalgae also has very fast growth rates, some strains are able to double their biomass within a 24 hour time frame. Algae are more efficient than most plants in the conversion of solar energy into biological energy because of their simple cellular build up. They also grow more effectively because the algae are suspended in water and therefore have constant access to it in order to meet their needs (James S, 2010). The main fuels being produced from algae are biodiesel and ethanol. You can use the same lot of algae, genetically engineered to produce cellulose, for starch fermentation into ethanol, and the remaining oils for biodiesel production (Stephen Mayfield, 2009). This previous research found barriers in the process such as cost and space availability. One was places that had the best amount of sunlight for algae growth also had trouble with temperatures dropping too low at night, such as New Mexico. The costs analysis from studies done in both the 70 s 2

and 80 s showed that biodiesel production from algae would cost twice as much as petroleum products. One reason is that the lowest cost form of algae production is open ponds, unfortunately this allows for local species of algae to contaminate the ponds (John Sheehan et al., 1998). One of the final barriers is the space required by the algae fields. 90 million acres would be required to meet today s needs of 140 billion gallons of liquid fuel consumed in the U.S. each year (Stephen Mayfield, 2009). With current genetic strains of microalgae 1,600 gallons of biofuel can be produced per acre per year under optimal conditions (Stephen Mayfield, 2009). This requires a lot of land to produce algae and it needs to be in a place where there are ample amounts of sunlight and a relatively stable temperature. Due to the fact that algae sequesters , there has been speculation into using it in stacks where are taken in

these chemicals are usually released into the atmosphere. The high concentrations of

by the algae as it grows and is used to construct tissue. One method of growing large quantities of algae is using open canal raceways. These raceways are typically 0.1-0.3m deep, a paddle wheel circulates the water and allows the mixing of nutrients. There is no cover to allow ample sunlight penetration, be bubbled through the raceways to aid in mixing and provide additional can

for photosynthesis (James

S, 2010). There are several other methods, enclosed bio-reactor, and open ponds. The open ponds are generally the cheapest way to cultivate algae however they are most susceptible to cross contamination. Enclosed bio-reactors are best for preventing contamination but can also be the most expensive option; maintenance of these systems can also be a cost. Some challenges facing these systems is the density of algae reaching a critical point in which the organisms on the surface block sunlight from getting to lower layers, this is the reason that raceways are relatively shallow. This can cause issues in enclosed bio-reactors by clogging the piping and decreasing nutrient circulation (Algae Oil, 2011).

So what kind of space would be needed to produce the amount of biofuel to offset our 140 billion gallons of liquid fuel per day? If we produce this fuel with microalgae it would require 90 million acres in various farms, open ponds, raceways, etc.(James S, 2010). Ethanol production from sugar cane averages at about 1088.59 gal/acre which would require 129 million acres of land for sugar cane farms. Corn to ethanol production in the US produces around 328 gal/acre which would require 426 million acres of corn farms to meet our liquid fuel needs (Crago C et al, 2010). The amount of energy required to grow the algae depends on the method used for cultivation. Though the facilities for algae growth have varying costs, this will only look at the cost to cultivate algae in a facility already in place only looking at operating costs. After construction, an open pond will have virtually no external need for energy aside from the suns solar rays. The only cost for this system in the growing process would be to seed the water with the desired strain of microalgae. The raceway has a few more cost associated with the growth of the algae. These facilities tend to be rather large and would require workers to maintain the raceways and move the algae through the process, from smaller raceways to larger ones. The only other energy source needed would be electricity to power the paddle wheel and possibly an aerator. There would also be the cost of adding nutrients but the actual addition of these nutrients would be very simple. Again sunlight would do most of the work in the actual growth of the organisms. So the annual operating cost for a 250 acre algae raceway farm would be $1,250,000/year(Briggs W, 2004). This would produce 400,000 gallons of biofuel annually, so $3.10/gallon (James S, 2010).Enclosed bio-reactors would require energy for pumps to circulate the medium containing the algae and also an injection system for and nutrients. The temperature of

these systems are also usually regulated which would require more energy. Again sunlight would do the additional work of growing the algae as long as the reactor s had natural light penetration. An estimation of $404,000/acre/year (Kane S, 2009) which would be roughly $11.07/gallon biofuel (Gair D, 2009). 4

One other benefit of the use of microalgae in biofuel production is the ability of the algae to sequester . One such study states that under the right conditions, the algae used 90% of the

injected into the pools (Sheehan J et al, 1998). A study was done with algae mats in the ocean to remove excess tons of from the atmosphere. They found that 1 acre of floating algae could remove 10,000

annually (Ritschard R, 1992). So algae has a very high capacity to turn the excess carbon

dioxide in the atmosphere into its cellular structure and oils use for biofuel extraction. Some algae beds have even been grown in coal fire power plant stacks to scrub carbon dioxide from the steam. This is an area of high concentration which is very beneficial for the algal growth (Sheehan J et al, 1998).

Next we will examine the conversion process to extract biofuels, ethanol and biodiesel, from algae. Certain strains of algae produce high amounts of oils, lipids, for energy reserves. One such method for biodiesel extraction is a chemical reaction. Once the algae are harvested it is ground as fine as possible and allowed to dry to remove excess water. Then hexane and ether solution is added to extract the oils, the biomass is then filtered out of the extracted oil. The hexane and ether solution is then evaporated off of the solution so only pure oil remains. The normal process for biodiesel conversion is then implemented. NaOH and methanol is added to the oil and stirred to execute the reaction. The biodiesel is then allowed to settle and separated from the sediments. The biodiesel is washed with 5% water to remove left over methanol and is then allowed to dry (Hossien S et al, 2008). Another Method is directly pressing the dried biomass for its oils. This uses a motorized press; the extracted oils still have to be converted into biodiesel like the above process. The oil that comes direct out of the algae is actually very similar to high grade vegetable oil (Gair D, 2009). In order to produce ethanol from algae, strains of algae would have to be modified to produce cellulase during their growth cycle. This cellulose could then be used to ferment cellulosic materials into ethanol. Right now with our technology a lot of fermentation broth is needed, which would have to contain 1.4 B kg of enzyme.

Studies are looking into microalgae as a way to produce this key component in the ethanol conversion process (Mayfield S, 2010). One of the last and most important questions to be asked in this overview is, where can we use these fuels? The US uses a tremendous amount of liquid fuels each year. One article suggests making more passenger cars powered by diesel engines. Diesel engines are 35% more efficient than petro gasoline engines. Today s petro gasoline engines one use 20% of the gasoline s chemical energy for propulsion, the rest is lost due to heat. Biodiesel can be used directly in conventional diesel engines without any modifications; the only concern would be that the gel point of biodiesel is lower than petro diesel (Olhrogge J, 2009). As diesel engine technology gets more refined, smaller engines that are more responsive and quiet can be placed in smaller cars. The ability of microalgae to produce cellulose for the breakdown of cellulose into ethanol has a place with our current technology. Though ethanol is slight lower in energy content compared to gasoline, it can be mixed to offset dependence on foreign oil. In the past 10% ethanol has been mixed with gasoline to offset the cost of increasing oil prices. Now E15 (15% ethanol) is being implemented into gasoline mixtures. The introduction of Flex Fuel Vehicles, FFV s, has allowed greater market potential for ethanol. Most FFV s can run on E85 which would mean that only 15% of the mixture is gasoline. So these two biofuels can be used readily in current engine technology. Though there are some differences in energy content. For example, biodiesel has 5-10% less energy than petroleum diesel. However converting more cars to run on diesel will result in a 35% increase in liquid fuel combustion efficiency. The combustion of biodiesel also results in lower  emissions into the

atmosphere. Converting starch into ethanol results in a 30% loss in the energy stored in the starch (Olhrogge J, 2009). But more importantly it can be run in combustion engines mixed with gasoline. Also, 6

during feed crop growth for ethanol, less

is taken into the plants for cellular structure development.

So Ethanol has lower greenhouse gas emissions and helps remove atmospheric carbon dioxide during growth. Algae seem to be a promising source for biofuel production and petroleum fuel offset in the United States. Algae can be genetically engineered to store more energy as oil and secrete cellulose during growth. These strains can be grown in various ways to get the biomass needed to produce the biofuels. Several farming techniques are used including open ponds, raceways, and bio-reactors. Each technique has its benefits and drawbacks. In any case a lot of land will be required to grow the amount of algae needed to replace out 140 billion gallons of liquid fuel consumed each year. The operational costs of the facilities make the cost of biofuels close to $3/gallon but as high as $11/gallon. If efficiencies in the process improve, biofuels would not have a problem competing with today s petroleum fuel products. This is true especially with the ability of these biofuels to be implemented in today s engine technology, mainly vehicles. As flex fuel cars become more popular, ethanol will play a larger role in our transportation demands. The conversion process for biodiesel is quite efficient with its only bi-product being glycerol. However the ethanol fermentation process can be further refined as it has a 30% loss in energy content from starch. Converting more cars to run on improved diesel engines can create a 35% increase in liquid fuel combustion efficiency; this means we will actually need to consume less fuel. Biofuels are more than able to take on the burden of the United States liquid fuel needs. We have an organism that is able to produce the components necessary to make these biofuels, algae. During the process, algae also remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, creating a renewable and mostly sustainable form of energy.

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