Domestic Fuel

While producing a green fuel from a green pond scum… turning algae into biodiesel… isn’t anything new, doing it in the nation’s breadbasket, where plenty of soybeans for biodiesel are already being grown, is a bit more of a novel concept.

In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we talk to Dr. Richard Sayre, the Director of the Enterprise Rent A Car Institute For Renewable Fuels at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri. He says the future for biodiesel production in the Midwest could be in the form of the common, single-celled organism that out-produces conventional land crops for biodiesel by two to tenfold.

Sayre says cost is one of the biggest issues to overcome as algae biodiesel right now costs about $4 a gallon. But he believes that with some better technology, in the ponds and in the actual algae cells, that cost could be down to just $2 a gallon… comparable to non-renewable petroleum. And Sayre says algae doesn’t have to be grown in the Midwest, where winters are tougher than more algae-traditional areas, such as the desert areas of the American Southwest. The more moderate summers of the Midwest are actually more conducive to algae growth, and the area obviously has more water, vital for algae. Finally, Sayre says there are techniques, such as harvesting the CO2 and heat from coal-powered plants to keep the ponds clear of ice even in the coldest of winters.

He makes some great points, and you can hear more of it here: DFCast-7-10-09.mp3

You can also subscribe to the DomesticFuel Cast here.

In what’s being touted as a first of its kind for the country, a city in Georgia says it will use its wastewater to grow algae to make into biodiesel.

The Daily Citizen of Dalton, Georgia reports Dalton Utilities plans to build a pilot project to use with its land application system along the Conasauga River:

“We are working on the design now,” said Mark Marlowe, Dalton Utilities’ vice president of water and wastewater engineering. “We hope to start construction in the fall or winter of this year, and complete construction in fall or winter. The startup will take several months. But it should be fully operational by the spring of 2010.”

“The target is 2,000 gallons (per acre per year),” Das said.

DU officials say they the algae will eat the phosphorous in the water, removing it from the wastewater… growing fuel while cleaning up the environment!

A Southern Florida biofuel refiner has plans to build a 15 million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant that will use oil from the jatropha plant and algae as its feedstocks.

This article from the Miami Herald says Ag-Oil, based in Delray Beach, is putting up the $20 million pilot-scale biodiesel production facility thanks to some federal stimulus dollars:

Teri Gevinson, CEO of Ag-Oil, said the company has planted 20 acres of jatropha, a fast-growing plant with seeds that contain oil, to make biodiesel. The biorefinery will use a patented technology to convert jatropha seeds, algae and related by-products into fuel.

Once operational sometime in 2011, the facility and plantation on 103 acres will maintain an estimated 128 direct jobs and 915 indirect jobs, the company said.

Other farmers in South Florida will also be growing jatropha for the plant.

Many drivers across the country are getting frustrated as gas prices are on the rise and oil prices have surpassed $70 a barrel. Algae production may be a good replacement for oil and today, OriginOil, Inc., announced that it has filed for a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) on its technology to convert algae to renewable oil. The renewable oil could be used to replace diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, plastics, and solvents.

A challenge that has faced researchers on the culturing of microalgae has been light utilization. According to a company representative, “The invention addresses challenging problems in the culturing of microalgae, including high energy utilization, fouling of light emitting surfaces, and diurnal growth cycles.” To mix metaphors, in a nutshell, this technology allows the algae to have access to the light throughout the photobioreactor, rather than just on the surface.

The filing describes system and methods for enhancing mass production of microalgae, involving the use of light arrays. The systems and methods are useful in applications such as energy production, fuels, foods, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and CO₂ fixation.  Also described are systems and methods for lysing (rupturing) cells and extracting their components, and for producing electricity with closed-loop CO₂ recycling.

Vikram Pattarkine, PhD joined the OriginOil team as the chief technology officer and oversees the company’s research program. Pattarkine noted, “The pace of development at OriginOil has been extremely rapid. With this filing, we have consolidated our intellectual property protection at the international level in a number of areas of innovation at OriginOil.”

Earlier this year, OriginOil announced that it had finalized a deal with the Department of Energy’s National Laboratory to validate and commercialize the technology. The company has also been awarded Biofuels Digest’s Top 50 award as a top company changing the face of the biofuels industry.

Our friends at the National Algae Association’s Mid-South Chapter has snagged some impressive speakers for their upcoming workshop, “Algae: The Race for New Oil,” on June 12, in Orlando, Florida. Among those speaking will be Ronald Pate of Sandia National Laboratories, who will talk about the U.S. Department of Energy’s take on the OBP’s Recovery Act Funding Opportunities:

The recent news of $50 million in proposed funding for grants related to algal biofuels has spurred great interest in developing algae biofuels partnerships and initiating the data gathering process for grant applications. Pate will address these topics and offer valuable insight into algae research based on his past work at Sandia Labs.

Tamra Fakhoorian, president of the NAA Mid-South Chapter says, “We have seen amazing developments in algae commercialization during this past year. NAA conferences and workshops have played an important role in bringing together the history-makers who are turning ‘algae for biofuels’ into a household phrase.”

More information about this workshop is available at www.NationalAlgaeAssociation.com.

President Obama has put the emphasis on renewable energy, and the buzz in the nation’s capitol… and the country… has been about turning algae into biodiesel.

To that end, PetroAlgae is opening a Washington, DC office and has sent three of its best folks there to work closer with the Obama Administration, Congress, non-profit groups, and the business community:

The three new appointments are Andrew Beck, who has joined the company as vice president of public affairs; Michael Gale and George Lyons, who have both joined the company as vice presidents of government relations.

“One of the most effective responses to the challenges of restoring our nation’s economy and responding to our climate and energy crisis is a green recovery,” said Dr. John Scott, Chairman of PetroAlgae. “These three talented individuals will lead PetroAlgae’s discussions with the Obama Administration, Members of Congress and others in the Washington to help educate the country on the ability of clean-energy to help create new jobs and contribute to the nation’s economic recovery.”

Beck, a veteran of the U.S. Department of Energy and the EPA, will manage PetroAlgae’s strategic communications, public outreach and media relations operations. Gale was the president of Government Relations and International Trade Strategies and will now manage PetroAlgae’s interactions with government officials with a focus on energy, environmental, tax and international issues. Lyons, who will now manage PetroAlgae’s interactions with government officials with a focus on energy, tax, appropriations, and state issues, was a principal at the Gimga Group.

Algae is being seen as the next great feedstock for biodiesel… if the industry can grow the algae and extract the oil in a commercially-viable way. To that end, our friends from the National Algae Association`s Mid-South Chapter are hosting a one-day workshop on algae commercialization on June 12, 2009 at the Doubletree Castle Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

According to the group’s Web site, the workshop, entitled “Algae: The Race for New Oil,” will feature several presentations including an update on algae production in the region. There are some deadlines coming up soon if you want to submit white papers and business plans for review during the workshop:

* White papers for algae-related growth systems and support products, as well as R&D overviews must be submitted also by May 26, 2009 for review by the executive committee for potential inclusion in the workshop.

“We have seen amazing developments in algae commercialization during this past year. NAA conferences and workshops have played an important role in bringing together the history-makers who are turning `algae for biofuels` into a household phrase,” says [Tamra Fakhoorian, President of the NAA Mid-South Chapter].

Organizers expect producers, equipment manufacturers, researchers, engineers, along with members of the legal, investment and financial communities to attend. More information is available on the NAA Mid-South Chapter Web site: www.NationalAlgaeAssociation.com.

Biofuels from the perspective of India and East Africa, as well as Europe and the United States, were part of the discussion at the World Ag Congress in St. Louis on Tuesday.

Henk Joos with London-based D1 Oils moderated the panel focusing on an integrated approach to biofuels. He stressed that the purpose of the panel was to find solutions. “We can decide to go again in an immense debate on food versus fuel,” he said. “I would like to take a different approach. I would like with my fellow panelists to identify responsible ways to make food and fuel at the same time.”

Joos noted, as did several others on the panel, that biofuels alone were not the cause of last year’s dramatic increase in food prices. “Food production per capita in the world has never been higher than it is today,” he said. “It’s not necessarily about the total production of food, it’s really food distribution, getting it to the people who need it.” Not only that, he added, a great deal of food continues to be wasted around the world.

He also pointed out the food and fuel example of Brazil, which has developed a very successful sugarcane ethanol industry using only 0.3% of total acreage to produce sugarcane. “That is a perfect example of how this production can go hand in hand,” he said.

The panelists included former Secretary of Agriculture for India Radha Singh, Lee Broughton with Enterprise, Bill Horan with 25x’25, and professor Nuhu Hatibu, CEO of Kilimo Trust, East Africa. All agreed that there are ways the world can produce fuel from various feedstocks – including non-food like jatropha and algae for biodiesel – and still feed a growing population.

You can listen to the opening remarks of the panelists here: waf-09-biofuels.MP3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (24.2MB)

The head of a company that is making energy out of algae wants lawmakers to ensure that their type of fuel is part of upcoming Cap and Trade legislation.

The president of Sapphire Energy, Cynthia J. Warner, testified today before the full U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to encourage legislators to allow industries that produce carbon dioxide, such as coal-burning electric generators, to collect and transport their CO2 to companies like Sapphire Energy that make industrial waste and greenhouse gases (GHG) into low carbon gasoline, diesel and jet fuels:

“Sapphire Energy believes that the business opportunity presented by climate policy can be transformative as we enter this Green Era,” stated Warner. “By getting ahead of the curve, we can produce a new generation of transportation fuels for the world that are low-carbon, produced right here in the United States, and that generate renewed economic growth and new green-collar jobs.”

“Sapphire’s algae-based fuels emit approximately two-thirds less CO2 than petroleum-based fuels at scale,” Warner explained. “When compared with conventional biofuels, such as corn ethanol and soy biodiesel, Sapphire’s Green Crude has significantly less than half their carbon impact, while delivering far greater energy density than either alternative.”

Warner says re-using the carbon dioxide to grow algae would remove that greenhouse gas from the environment and create a sustainable energy supply. Plus, she points out that over the next few years the algae industry will directly create approximately 11,700 jobs and another 30,000 jobs from indirect sources.

Scientists working for the federal government have found another way to turn algae into energy. The green pond scum has been found as a good source for biodiesel. Now, algae can be turned into natural gas.

This press release from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) says the feds have transferred the technology to the marketplace under a license between Genifuel Corporation and Battelle:

The method, called catalytic hydrothermal gasification, creates natural gas out of algae – more quickly, more efficiently and at higher yields than other biofuel processes. Genifuel expects the process also requires less capital investment. The license agreement moves this technology for renewable energy production a step closer to commercial reality. Battelle operates PNNL for DOE.

PNNL originally developed the catalytic gasification process to clean up industrial and food processing waste as an alternative to incineration. Over the past 10 years, PNNL scientists advanced the technology to include a more stable catalyst that enables it to also convert wet biomass, such as algae. PNNL has tested the gasifier with terrestrial plants, kelp and water hyacinths. It works especially well for aquatic biomass such as algae, because the feedstock doesn’t require drying before fuel production.

Officials say that electricity made from the natural gas will help utilities meet renewable fuels standards. In addition, the natural gas produced from the process can be shipped through existing pipelines and used in conventional natural-gas turbine generators.

The new, proposed Environmental Protection Agency rules for the Renewable Fuels Standard has the biofuels community split over if they will be good for the green fuels. The point of contention has to do with the impact Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) will have on biofuel production. Under the new rules, biodiesel made from soybeans has been deemed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by only 22 percent… while it must reduce those emissions by 50 percent if it wants to count toward the RFS 1-billion-gallon goal by 2012. There also are emission goals for ethanol, but existing corn ethanol plants have been exempted; existing biodiesel refineries did not get the same break.

So, what’s good news for ethanol… and welcomed in that community… is bad news for biodiesel. The National Biodiesel Board was on Capitol Hill today, where Vice President of Federal Affairs Manning Feraci told the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research that the new requirement would seriously imperil the biodiesel industry:

“By statute, EPA must consider significant indirect emissions when calculating a renewable fuel’s emission profile. Unfortunately, it appears that the proposed rule EPA unveiled yesterday relies on uncertain, inexact assumptions pertaining to Indirect Land Use Change in calculating biodiesel’s greenhouse gas emission profile. The result is that biodiesel produced from domestically produced vegetable oils are disqualified from the Biomass-based Diesel program. There are many factors unrelated to U.S. biodiesel production that impact land use decisions abroad. For example, in Brazil, forestry, cattle ranching and subsistence farming drive land use decisions, yet the EPA’s proposed methodology appears to attribute this change to U.S. biodiesel production. This assumption defies common-sense…

“As a result of these dubious land use assumptions, the EPA’s proposed rule restricts feedstock for low-carbon diesel replacement fuel to only animal fats and restaurant grease. Vegetable oils account for more than sixty percent of the feedstock that is available to meet the RFS-2 Biomass-based Diesel targets, and the RFS-2 volume goals simply cannot be met if vegetable oils are disqualified from the program. Even under the so-called pathway for biodiesel that is briefly outlined in the proposed rule, there will not be enough feedstock available to meet the RFS-2 volume goals for Biomass-based diesel. This outcome is not consistent with either sound science or sound energy policy.

Meanwhile, the folks in the algae-biodiesel business seem happy with the proposed EPA changes. Dr. John Scott, chairman of PetroAlgae, released a statement today in favor of the nearly $800 million in biomass funding that will become available:

“This is a good first step toward building America’s clean energy economy, but it’s not the end game. Going forward, two things will be critical: investing in micro-crops like algae that are more productive and do not jeopardize our food and water supplies; and making sure we back solutions that are commercially viable today and sustainable over the long term.”

The 31st Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals is coming up May 3-6 in San Francisco, with more than 800 scientists expected to attend sessions on topics ranging from commercialization of biofuels and their long-term sustainability to emerging technologies and turning algae into fuel.

Government and private sector support for research, development and deployment of renewable fuels and chemicals technologies is at an all time high. This year’s Symposium provides a superb forum for experts from around the world to gather to discuss the latest research breakthroughs and results in this exciting and growing field. This year’s scientific program is designed to facilitate effective exchange of new information and technical progress among attendees from industrial, academic, and government sectors.

The meeting is organized by the Society for Industrial Microbiology, hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Biomass Program. More information is available here.

A group of experts are slated to speak on the commercialization of biofuels at the 31st Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals on May 3-6 in San Francisco. Speakers will include scientists from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), the Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) and UC Berkeley, as well as private companies.

Sessions will focus on a variety of special topics: Biorefinery Deployment, highlighting recent progress in developing and operating demonstration-scale and commercial-scale integrated biorefineries; Biofuels Logistics and Sustainability, touching on the the potential of lignocellulosic biomass; International Commercialization of 2nd Generation Biofuels, presenting on recent international progress to accelerate deployment of advanced biofuels technologies; Development and Commercialization of Algal-based Biofuels, focusing on efforts underway to develop and commericalize algal-based biofuels; and Emerging Biofuels and Chemicals: highlighting on research and development of new fuels and chemicals from renewable feedstocks.

The meeting is organized by the Society for Industrial Microbiology, and hosted by NREL and ORNL, and sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Biomass Program. Cosponsors include EBI, NREL, ORNL, JBEI and other national laboratories and private companies.

More than 800 are expected to attend the event. For more information, go to http://www.simhq.org/meetings/sbfc2009/index.html.

A major federal investment in the entire value chain of advanced biofuels and biobased products commercialization is needed to move advanced biofuels and emerging biobased materials to market, according to the executives of companies who are working to make that happen.

During a teleconference today hosted by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), representatives from cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels companies gave updates on progress being made toward commercializing advanced biofuels and some of the challenges still to be overcome.

BIO Executive Vice President Brent Erickson says they are recommending the implementation of specific policies to provide funding in a number iof areas, including feedstock development, enzymes and fermentation organisms, algal oil production, alternative fuel distribution networks and vehicles, and biorefinery construction.

“We need a new systems approach to advance biofuels throughout the whole value chain,” said Erickson. “We’re actually talking about creating a new energy infrastructure, which this country hasn’t done for over 100 years.”

They are requesting an immediate injection of capitol for biorefinery construction, feedstock development and fuel delivery infrastructure, which can be accomplished through existing programs within the Departments of Energy and Agriculture. They are also recommending an increase in the availability of E85 fuel pumps and flex fuel vehicles, as well as the certification of higher ethanol blends and the extension of the cellulosic producer tax credit.

BIO is holding its annual legislative fly-in this week and members of the organization will be meeting with administration officials and members of Congress over the next two days to communicate their ideas.

While algae-based biodiesel continues to grow in interest, producers of the REALLY green fuel are trying to find ways to make sure they can turn a profit… just like any biodiesel producer. Being able to grow algae in the more plentiful saltwater could be key to making the process profitable.

This story from the gas2.0 Web site says California-based Aurora Biofuels has completed an 18-month pilot project that produced 1,000 gallons of ATSM quality biodiesel in Florida open ponds of just 1/8th of an acre. Company officials say they could get as much as 6,000 gallons per acre when fully cranked up:

A company spokesperson stated, “In the near-term we expect to demonstrate that the economics of this process can produce biodiesel that is price-competitive with fossil fuels.” A 50 acre pond is scheduled for completion in 2010.

And the article goes on to point out there are other places working on saltwater algae for biodiesel:

In a similar vein, Australian researchers just released a report stating that they have found that biodiesel production for saltwater algae can be competitive with the production of petroleum diesel. However, they also state that due to the cost of transporting biodiesel from an algal farm, the best scenario may be to locate an electricity generating plant in the same vicinity and simply convert the chemical energy into electricity. Creating such a powerplant would also make new jobs for local workers. (The analysis used an assumption of about 1,000 acres of ponds.)

In addition, a new technique in New York is reported to cut the cost of making algae-biodiesel by 40 percent. They’re using a ‘continuously flowing fixed-bed’ and uses a solid rather than liquid catalyst, which allows the flow of biodiesel to stay constant. Researcher Ben Wen says this is the first economical way to produce biodiesel from algae oil.