News & Headlines:
Headline news articles featured below:
Algae Farm Eats Pollution from the Highway below it - October 31, 2014
Research from Penn and UCSB shows how giant clams harness the sun - October 2, 2014
Energy Department Announces Up to $25 Million to Reduce Costs of Algal Biofuels - September 30, 2014
Algae-powered Building designed and tested in Hamburg, Germany - 23rd September, 2014
Hacked photosynthesis could boost crop yields Algal enzyme can speed up rate at which plants make food - 17 September 2014
Next-generation photobioreactors (PBRs) and innovative glass tubing: Helix™ - August 30th, 2014
Israeli Red Algae Showcased in New Clinique Skincare Line - August 25, 2014
Lake Erie, Toledo bloom caused by fertilizer runoff - August 2nd, 2014
Unprecedented worldwide microalgae productivity assessment study by Utah State University (USU) with colleagues Chris McGinty and Jason Quinn, Jeffrey Moody - May 26, 2014
Summary of Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference, Washington DC - April 21-23 2014
Why the Promise of Cheap Fuel from Super Bugs Fell Short: The sell-off of synthetic biology pioneer LS9 goes to show that making biofuels from genetically engineered microbes has yet to deliver economically - February 5, 2014
Algae may be a potential source of biofuels and biochemicals even in cool climate - March 20, 2014
Clean Energy Ecosystem Summit, Goldman Sachs - September 2013
Algae Competition Awards Congratulations to the prize winners! (Download Awards PDF) - Algae Competition awarded 7 prize winners from 40 finalists and 140 entries from 40 countries - May 1st, 2012
SD-CAB’s One Barrel for Baja Project - July 11, 2011
Algae Farm Eats Pollution from the Highway below it - October 31, 2014
Research from Penn and UCSB shows how giant clams harness the sun - October 2, 2014
Energy Department Announces Up to $25 Million to Reduce Costs of Algal Biofuels - September 30, 2014
Algae-powered Building designed and tested in Hamburg, Germany - 23rd September, 2014
Hacked photosynthesis could boost crop yields Algal enzyme can speed up rate at which plants make food - 17 September 2014
Next-generation photobioreactors (PBRs) and innovative glass tubing: Helix™ - August 30th, 2014
Israeli Red Algae Showcased in New Clinique Skincare Line - August 25, 2014
Lake Erie, Toledo bloom caused by fertilizer runoff - August 2nd, 2014
Unprecedented worldwide microalgae productivity assessment study by Utah State University (USU) with colleagues Chris McGinty and Jason Quinn, Jeffrey Moody - May 26, 2014
Summary of Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference, Washington DC - April 21-23 2014
Why the Promise of Cheap Fuel from Super Bugs Fell Short: The sell-off of synthetic biology pioneer LS9 goes to show that making biofuels from genetically engineered microbes has yet to deliver economically - February 5, 2014
Algae may be a potential source of biofuels and biochemicals even in cool climate - March 20, 2014
Clean Energy Ecosystem Summit, Goldman Sachs - September 2013
Algae Competition Awards Congratulations to the prize winners! (Download Awards PDF) - Algae Competition awarded 7 prize winners from 40 finalists and 140 entries from 40 countries - May 1st, 2012
SD-CAB’s One Barrel for Baja Project - July 11, 2011
This Algae Farm Eats Pollution From the Highway Below It - 10/31/14:
A highway overpass is the last place most of us would think to install a farm. But algae, that wonderful little ecological miracle, is different. Since it consumes sunlight and CO2 and spits out oxygen, places with high emissions are actually the perfect growing area. Which is why this overpass in Switzerland has its own algae farm.
Built this summer as part of a festival in Genève, the farm is actually fairly simple: It thrives on the emissions of cars that pass below it, augmented by sunlight. A series of pumps and filters regulate the system, and over time, the algae matures into what can be turned into any number of usable products. According to the designers behind it, the Dutch and French design firm Cloud Collective, those uses can range from combustable biomass to material for use in cosmetics and other consumer-facing products.
Of course, this is just a proof of concept—an installation to explain how easy it would be to do this on a larger scale. But that's just as important, at this point. Injecting an emerging system like algae into the public consciousness, bit by bit, shows how realistic a larger scale version could really be. [Cloud Collective; DesignBoom].
A highway overpass is the last place most of us would think to install a farm. But algae, that wonderful little ecological miracle, is different. Since it consumes sunlight and CO2 and spits out oxygen, places with high emissions are actually the perfect growing area. Which is why this overpass in Switzerland has its own algae farm.
Built this summer as part of a festival in Genève, the farm is actually fairly simple: It thrives on the emissions of cars that pass below it, augmented by sunlight. A series of pumps and filters regulate the system, and over time, the algae matures into what can be turned into any number of usable products. According to the designers behind it, the Dutch and French design firm Cloud Collective, those uses can range from combustable biomass to material for use in cosmetics and other consumer-facing products.
Of course, this is just a proof of concept—an installation to explain how easy it would be to do this on a larger scale. But that's just as important, at this point. Injecting an emerging system like algae into the public consciousness, bit by bit, shows how realistic a larger scale version could really be. [Cloud Collective; DesignBoom].
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Research from Penn and UCSB shows how giant clams harness the sun - October 2, 2014 - 3:00pm: The research team members began their study hypothesizing that the clams' iridocytes were being used to maximize the usefulness of the light that reaches the algae within their bodies. They were first confounded by the relationship between these iridescent structures and the single-celled plants, until they realized that they had an incomplete picture of their geometry. When they made more precise cross sections of the clams, they found that the algae were organized into pillars, with a layer of iridocytes at the top.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Santa Barbara, have now shown how giant clams use iridescent structures to thrive, operating as exceedingly efficient, living greenhouses that grow symbiotic algae as a source of food. This understanding could have implications for alternative energy research, paving the way for new types of solar panels or bioreactors. These structures, known as iridocytes, give the clams their spectacular color. Sunlight at the equator is too intense for their algae to be efficient; iridocytes help filter that light.
(Photo Credit: Alison Sweeney), Source: University of Pennsylvania
"When we saw the complete picture, we understood that the pillars are oriented exactly the wrong way if you want to catch sunlight," Sweeney said. "That's where the iridocytes come into play." The team relied on Amanda Holt and Sanaz Vahidinia to model exactly what was happening to the light once it passed through the iridocytes; the degree of disorder within these cells bore a resemblance to structures Vahidinia studies at NASA: the dust of Saturn's rings. Their analysis suggested that the iridocytes would scatter many wavelengths of light in a cone-like distribution pointing deeper into the clam. Red and blue wavelengths, the most useful to the algae, spread the widest, impacting the sides of the pillars in which the single-celled plants were stacked.
Here, we see the structure of the algal pillars (brown) within the clams. Sunlight at the equator is too intense for their algae to be efficient; these pillars are arranged vertically, so the algae do not receive the full brunt of that intensity. A layer of iridocytes (blue) on top of the pillars scatter many wavelengths of light in a cone-like distribution pointing deeper into the clam. Red and blue wavelengths, the most useful to the algae, spread the widest, impacting the sides of the pillars in which the single-celled plants are stacked. These structures known as iridocytes (in detail on right), give the clams their spectacular color.
To test this model, the team constructed fiber optic probes with spherical tips the size of an individual alga. Threaded through a section of clam flesh alongside the native algae, this spherical probe was able to detect the angled light scattered by the iridocytes, whereas a flat-tipped probe, only able to sense light shining straight down, detected nothing. "We see that, at any vertical position within the clam tissue, the light comes in at just about the highest rate at which these algae can make use of photons most efficiently," Sweeney said. "The entire system is scaled so the algae absorb light exactly at the rate where they are happiest."
"This provides a gentle, uniform illumination to the vertical pillars consisting of the millions of symbiotic algae that provide nutrients to their animal host by photosynthesis," said Morse. "The combined effect of the deeper penetration of sunlight — reaching more algae that grow densely in the 3-dimensional volume of tissue — and the "step-down" reduction in light intensity — preventing the inhibition of photosynthesis from excessive irradiation -- enables the host to support a much larger population of active algae producing food than possible without the reflective cells."
Mimicking the micron-scale structures within the clam's iridocytes and algal pillars could lead to new approaches for boosting the efficiency of photovoltaic cells without having to precisely engineer structures on the nanoscale. Other alternative energy strategies might adopt lessons from the clams in a more direct way: current bioreactors are inefficient because they must constantly stir the algae to keep them exposed to light as they grow and take up more and more space. Adopting the geometry of the iridocytes and algal pillars within the clams would be a way of circumventing that issue. "The clam has to make every square inch count when it comes to efficiency," Sweeney said. "Likewise, all of our alternatives are very expensive when it comes to surface area, so it makes sense to try to solve that problem the way evolution has."
"This provides a gentle, uniform illumination to the vertical pillars consisting of the millions of symbiotic algae that provide nutrients to their animal host by photosynthesis," said Morse. "The combined effect of the deeper penetration of sunlight — reaching more algae that grow densely in the 3-dimensional volume of tissue — and the "step-down" reduction in light intensity — preventing the inhibition of photosynthesis from excessive irradiation -- enables the host to support a much larger population of active algae producing food than possible without the reflective cells."
Mimicking the micron-scale structures within the clam's iridocytes and algal pillars could lead to new approaches for boosting the efficiency of photovoltaic cells without having to precisely engineer structures on the nanoscale. Other alternative energy strategies might adopt lessons from the clams in a more direct way: current bioreactors are inefficient because they must constantly stir the algae to keep them exposed to light as they grow and take up more and more space. Adopting the geometry of the iridocytes and algal pillars within the clams would be a way of circumventing that issue. "The clam has to make every square inch count when it comes to efficiency," Sweeney said. "Likewise, all of our alternatives are very expensive when it comes to surface area, so it makes sense to try to solve that problem the way evolution has."
Energy Department Announces Up to $25 Million to Reduce Costs of Algal Biofuels - September 30, 2014 - 10:15 am: In support of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, the Energy Department today announced up to $25 million in funding to reduce the cost of algal biofuels to less than $5 per gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) by 2019. This funding supports the development of a bioeconomy that can help create green jobs, spur innovation, improve the environment, and achieve national energy security.
Algae biomass can be converted to advanced biofuels that offer promising alternatives to petroleum-based diesel and jet fuels. Additionally, algae can be used to make a range of other valuable bioproducts, such as industrial chemicals, bio-based polymers, and proteins. However, barriers related to algae cultivation, harvesting, and conversion to fuels and products need to be overcome to achieve the Department’s target of $3 per gge for advanced algal biofuels by 2030. To accomplish this goal, the Department is investing in applied research and development technologies that achieve higher biomass yields and overall values for the algae.
The funding announced today will support projects in two topic areas: Topic Area 1 awards (anticipated at 1–3 selections) will range from $5–10 million and focus on the development of algae cultures that, in addition to biofuels, produce valuable bioproducts that increase the overall value of the biomass. Topic Area 2 awards (anticipated at 3–7 selections) will range from $0.5–1 million and will focus on the development of crop protection or carbon dioxide utilization technologies to boost biomass productivity in ways that lead to higher yields of algae. Learn more about this funding opportunity here.
The Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy accelerates development and facilitates deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and market-based solutions that strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality. Learn more about EERE's work with industry, academia, and national laboratory partners on a balanced portfolio of research in biomass feedstocks and conversion technologies here.
Algae biomass can be converted to advanced biofuels that offer promising alternatives to petroleum-based diesel and jet fuels. Additionally, algae can be used to make a range of other valuable bioproducts, such as industrial chemicals, bio-based polymers, and proteins. However, barriers related to algae cultivation, harvesting, and conversion to fuels and products need to be overcome to achieve the Department’s target of $3 per gge for advanced algal biofuels by 2030. To accomplish this goal, the Department is investing in applied research and development technologies that achieve higher biomass yields and overall values for the algae.
The funding announced today will support projects in two topic areas: Topic Area 1 awards (anticipated at 1–3 selections) will range from $5–10 million and focus on the development of algae cultures that, in addition to biofuels, produce valuable bioproducts that increase the overall value of the biomass. Topic Area 2 awards (anticipated at 3–7 selections) will range from $0.5–1 million and will focus on the development of crop protection or carbon dioxide utilization technologies to boost biomass productivity in ways that lead to higher yields of algae. Learn more about this funding opportunity here.
The Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy accelerates development and facilitates deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and market-based solutions that strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality. Learn more about EERE's work with industry, academia, and national laboratory partners on a balanced portfolio of research in biomass feedstocks and conversion technologies here.
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Algae-powered Building designed and tested in Hamburg, Germany - 23rd September, 2014: Last spring, Arup, the design and engineering firm that brought the world the Centre Pompidou and the Sydney Opera House, unveiled their latest hypermodern architectural creation in Hamburg. From the outside, the surface of the 15-unit apartment building just looks like a bubbling green lava lamp stretched over an entire building. But those moving bubbles serve a function: they help to feed and order the living algae embedded within the Bio Intelligent Quotient (BIQ) building’s exterior skin. In turn, the 8-foot by 2-foot glass panels of green scuzz—the building’s $6.58 million bioreactor façade—power the entire structure, making it the world’s first algae-powered and theoretically fully self-sufficient building ever.
Conceived in 2009 as part of Hamburg’s International Building Exhibition, Arup’s BIQ building is part of a European movement to design carbon neutral, self-sustaining, and renewably powered structures. (Germany, for example, is pushing to achieve 35 percent national energy reliance on renewables by 2020.) Alongside a series of houses demonstrating solid timber carbon-locking constructions and greywater recycling systems, the BIQ was funded in large part by the German government as a means to incentivize the development of new adaptive, smart construction materials. Of all the technologies on display, though, algae power has perhaps the finest pedigree and greatest potential.
Research on the energy potential of algae, once just considered a slimy pond nuisance, began in earnest during the gas crisis of the 1970s at America’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Producing about five times as much biomass per square foot as soil grown plants, and thriving on carbon dioxide, algae have the potential to grow almost limitlessly and produce oily lipids and gases that can be transformed into relatively clean energy. But official research largely ended in the 1990s as scientists concluded that the benefits of feeding, fostering, and harvesting algae were not yet competitive with then-low oil prices. Still, many independent research groups kept the dream of algae power alive over the next couple of decades, slowly improving the efficiency and cost effectiveness of proposed systems. From 2009 onwards, at least a few plans for algae bioreactors have floated around the design community and academic circles, although few very have become reality.
The BIQ is the first residential structure to fully realize the dreams of algae power advocates. The building is coated on its two sun-facing sides with glass-plated tanks of suspended algae. Pressurized air is pumped into the system, feeding the organisms carbon dioxide and nutrients while moving them about—creating the lava lamp effect—to keep them from settling on the glass and rotting. Scrubbers clean off any sticking biomass, freeing up more sunlight for the remaining algae to perform photosynthesis. Periodically, algae are culled, mashed into biofuel, and burned in a local generator to produce power. Excess can be sold off for food supplements, methane generation to external power providers, or stored for future use. The result is a building shaded from summer heat by algae foliage, insulated from street noise, and potentially self-generating the power to sustain its own harvesters, heat, and electricity.
Critics of the design and of algae power in general argue that transforming algae into biofuel requires energy, as does manufacturing and pumping in nutrients. They also take issue with the fact that the BIQ is not totally self-sufficient and that algae technology is more expensive than solar power. They claim that these points make the technology more of a novelty than a useful solution—or at least that its potential has been over hyped.
Even Arup will concede to most of these points, admitting that the BIQ has only achieved 50 percent energy independence thus far. However they believe that total independence is within reach, especially by integrating solar into the design. The costs—$2,500 per square meter for the bioreactor system alone—are astronomical, but the developers hope that as the technology evolves, prices will decrease, while the savings of fuel reduction will offset the remaining extra costs. They hope that soon high-energy consuming businesses like data centers will help pilot their tech in the search for grid independence, and that algae power can take off in residential homes within a decade.
The Arup team is made up of futurists. The same year that they unveiled the BIQ, they released the “It’s Alive” report, envisioning a 2050 with mega-skyscraper vertical farms, jet-powered maintenance robots, and photovoltaic paint, a classic wish list of quasi sci-fi tech. So it’s probably reasonable to question how realistic their optimism about algae power is. But they’re no longer the lone nuts on the road to mass algae power. Grow Energy of San Diego, founded in 2012, has produced two home algae bioreactors and hopes to be able to manufacture, deliver, and install its first systems—generating 35 percent of the average home’s energy with minimal maintenance—for $12,000 per system starting next year.
Meanwhile, in late 2013, scientists developed a very simple technique—basically a specialized pressure cooker—to turn algae into cheap, competitive, biodegradable, non-toxic, and relatively clean oil in just an hour, and believe they can mainstream the technology within 25 years. And just this year, the state of Alabama launched the world’s first algae-powered wastewater treatment plant in the town of Daphne, cleaning water, generating fuel, and serving as proof of concept that the technology is improving, gaining widespread support, and proving itself on larger and larger scales.
Although all of this means we’re likely to see a greater number of more efficient buildings like the BIQ in the next few years, we’re still many years off from an algae generator in every home. But given last month’s pledge by the International Union of Architects to end carbon emissions from buildings by 2050, and similar global initiatives in search of carbon-neutral, self-sufficient structures, the emerging tech is likely to find more champions.
It’s hard not to look at the BIQ, in spite of all its flaws, and see a system that fits the order of the day in every way: a carbon locking, self-sustaining, off the grid, neutral power system. If the only hitch is that, in early stages of development, it’s still a bit pricey and buggy, that’s hardly a death knell for an otherwise optimistic and inspiring tech.
Conceived in 2009 as part of Hamburg’s International Building Exhibition, Arup’s BIQ building is part of a European movement to design carbon neutral, self-sustaining, and renewably powered structures. (Germany, for example, is pushing to achieve 35 percent national energy reliance on renewables by 2020.) Alongside a series of houses demonstrating solid timber carbon-locking constructions and greywater recycling systems, the BIQ was funded in large part by the German government as a means to incentivize the development of new adaptive, smart construction materials. Of all the technologies on display, though, algae power has perhaps the finest pedigree and greatest potential.
Research on the energy potential of algae, once just considered a slimy pond nuisance, began in earnest during the gas crisis of the 1970s at America’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Producing about five times as much biomass per square foot as soil grown plants, and thriving on carbon dioxide, algae have the potential to grow almost limitlessly and produce oily lipids and gases that can be transformed into relatively clean energy. But official research largely ended in the 1990s as scientists concluded that the benefits of feeding, fostering, and harvesting algae were not yet competitive with then-low oil prices. Still, many independent research groups kept the dream of algae power alive over the next couple of decades, slowly improving the efficiency and cost effectiveness of proposed systems. From 2009 onwards, at least a few plans for algae bioreactors have floated around the design community and academic circles, although few very have become reality.
The BIQ is the first residential structure to fully realize the dreams of algae power advocates. The building is coated on its two sun-facing sides with glass-plated tanks of suspended algae. Pressurized air is pumped into the system, feeding the organisms carbon dioxide and nutrients while moving them about—creating the lava lamp effect—to keep them from settling on the glass and rotting. Scrubbers clean off any sticking biomass, freeing up more sunlight for the remaining algae to perform photosynthesis. Periodically, algae are culled, mashed into biofuel, and burned in a local generator to produce power. Excess can be sold off for food supplements, methane generation to external power providers, or stored for future use. The result is a building shaded from summer heat by algae foliage, insulated from street noise, and potentially self-generating the power to sustain its own harvesters, heat, and electricity.
Critics of the design and of algae power in general argue that transforming algae into biofuel requires energy, as does manufacturing and pumping in nutrients. They also take issue with the fact that the BIQ is not totally self-sufficient and that algae technology is more expensive than solar power. They claim that these points make the technology more of a novelty than a useful solution—or at least that its potential has been over hyped.
Even Arup will concede to most of these points, admitting that the BIQ has only achieved 50 percent energy independence thus far. However they believe that total independence is within reach, especially by integrating solar into the design. The costs—$2,500 per square meter for the bioreactor system alone—are astronomical, but the developers hope that as the technology evolves, prices will decrease, while the savings of fuel reduction will offset the remaining extra costs. They hope that soon high-energy consuming businesses like data centers will help pilot their tech in the search for grid independence, and that algae power can take off in residential homes within a decade.
The Arup team is made up of futurists. The same year that they unveiled the BIQ, they released the “It’s Alive” report, envisioning a 2050 with mega-skyscraper vertical farms, jet-powered maintenance robots, and photovoltaic paint, a classic wish list of quasi sci-fi tech. So it’s probably reasonable to question how realistic their optimism about algae power is. But they’re no longer the lone nuts on the road to mass algae power. Grow Energy of San Diego, founded in 2012, has produced two home algae bioreactors and hopes to be able to manufacture, deliver, and install its first systems—generating 35 percent of the average home’s energy with minimal maintenance—for $12,000 per system starting next year.
Meanwhile, in late 2013, scientists developed a very simple technique—basically a specialized pressure cooker—to turn algae into cheap, competitive, biodegradable, non-toxic, and relatively clean oil in just an hour, and believe they can mainstream the technology within 25 years. And just this year, the state of Alabama launched the world’s first algae-powered wastewater treatment plant in the town of Daphne, cleaning water, generating fuel, and serving as proof of concept that the technology is improving, gaining widespread support, and proving itself on larger and larger scales.
Although all of this means we’re likely to see a greater number of more efficient buildings like the BIQ in the next few years, we’re still many years off from an algae generator in every home. But given last month’s pledge by the International Union of Architects to end carbon emissions from buildings by 2050, and similar global initiatives in search of carbon-neutral, self-sufficient structures, the emerging tech is likely to find more champions.
It’s hard not to look at the BIQ, in spite of all its flaws, and see a system that fits the order of the day in every way: a carbon locking, self-sustaining, off the grid, neutral power system. If the only hitch is that, in early stages of development, it’s still a bit pricey and buggy, that’s hardly a death knell for an otherwise optimistic and inspiring tech.
- Hacked photosynthesis could boost crop yields Algal enzyme can speed up rate at which plants make food - Heidi Ledford - 17 September 2014
“With the limited ability to increase land use for agriculture, there’s a huge interest in trying to improve yield across all the major crops,” says Steven Gutteridge, a research fellow at chemical firm DuPont’s crop-protection division in Newark, Delaware. Researchers have long wanted to increase yields by targeting Rubisco, the enzyme responsible for converting carbon dioxide into sugar. Rubisco is possibly the most abundant protein on Earth, and can account for up to half of all the soluble protein found in a leaf. But one reason for its abundance is its inefficiency: plants produce so much Rubisco in part to compensate for its slow catalysis. Some have estimated that tinkering with Rubisco and ways to boost the concentration of carbon dioxide around it could generate up to a 60% increase2 in the yields of crops such as rice and wheat.
Light speed Plant geneticist Maureen Hanson of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and her colleagues decided to borrow a faster Rubisco from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus. A team including Hanson and plant physiologist Martin Parry of Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, UK, shuttled bacterial Rubisco genes into the genome of the chloroplast — the cellular organelle where photosynthesis takes place — in the tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum), a common model organism for genetic-engineering research. In some of the plants the researchers also added a bacterial protein that is thought to help Rubisco to fold properly. In others, they added a bacterial protein that structurally supports Rubisco.
Both lines of tobacco were able to use the bacterial Rubisco for photosynthesis, and both converted CO2 to sugar faster than normal tobacco. The work provides an important foundation for testing the hypothesis that a faster Rubisco can yield a more productive plant, says Donald Ort, a plant biologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. But Hanson is quick to note that her team will need to do more before that hypothesis has been proven. Although the bacterial Rubisco works faster than the tobacco enzyme, it is also more prone to wasting energy by reacting with oxygen rather than CO2. Photosynthetic bacteria overcome this problem by creating specialized structures called carboxysomes, which enclose the enzyme and create a CO2-rich environment, discouraging wasteful reactions. Without carboxysomes, Hanson’s engineered plants — which also express much less Rubisco than normal plants — must be grown in chambers that can maintain artificially high CO2 concentrations.
There is hope, however, that they may soon be weaned off this requirement. In June, Hanson’s team reported the creation of tobacco that could generate structures resembling bacterial carboxysomes. The next step, says Hanson, will be to try this experiment in plants that express the turbocharged bacterial Rubisco. Ort says that it may be possible to generate tobacco plants with functional carboxysomes in the next five years.
Source: Naturedoi:10.1038/nature.2014.15949.
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- Next-generation photobioreactors
- Innovative glass tubing
Read more at: http://blog.us.schott.com/industry-leaders-partner-to-push-algae-production-technology-forward/
Israeli Red Algae Showcased in New Clinique Skincare Line - Tamar Auber - August 25, 2014 at 3:54 PM
Clinique has found a unique way to help repair skin for its newest cosmetic line. Red algae, grown in the Israeli desert, is one of the main ingredients in the company’s new Custom Repair Serum. The beneficial properties of red algae was developed for commercial use by Prof. Sammy Boussiba of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the first red algae facility was built in the desert in the late 1990′s. Since then, Israeli scientists have continued to study the algae – which gives salmon and lobster their distinctive pinkish color – for its unusual healing properties.
Dr. Amir Drory, director of Research and Development at Algatech, one of the largest algae farms in the desert, explained back in 2005 that red algae is one of nature’s top sources of astaxanthin, a carotinoid which interferes with the production and build up of cancer cells and can help build immunity. The properties of the algae also make it useful for skincare.
“The algae yield a polysaccharide which dissolves into a gel,” Prof. Shoshana Arad, explained a decade ago, before the BGU’s research had paid off big. “This gel is not only a superior lubricant, but also has anti-inflammatory and anti-irritating properties which makes it excellent for ophthalmic, joint and cosmetic applications.”
Now, after five years of study, Clinique has made the red algae a headliner in its new, pricy skincare line. “For more than five years, Clinique scientists conducted tests and learned how to combine and balance perfectly among the active ingredients and soothing ingredients,” bragged in their marketing materials for the new line. “This is not a simple achievement. The result is a harmonious combination of elements integrated into the most powerful remedy — the best serum ever developed Clinique.”
They also mention the algae which they call a “skin distress signal launcher” in their advertising, noting, “The potent red algae from the warm Israeli desert will soothe your skin.”
Clinique has found a unique way to help repair skin for its newest cosmetic line. Red algae, grown in the Israeli desert, is one of the main ingredients in the company’s new Custom Repair Serum. The beneficial properties of red algae was developed for commercial use by Prof. Sammy Boussiba of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the first red algae facility was built in the desert in the late 1990′s. Since then, Israeli scientists have continued to study the algae – which gives salmon and lobster their distinctive pinkish color – for its unusual healing properties.
Dr. Amir Drory, director of Research and Development at Algatech, one of the largest algae farms in the desert, explained back in 2005 that red algae is one of nature’s top sources of astaxanthin, a carotinoid which interferes with the production and build up of cancer cells and can help build immunity. The properties of the algae also make it useful for skincare.
“The algae yield a polysaccharide which dissolves into a gel,” Prof. Shoshana Arad, explained a decade ago, before the BGU’s research had paid off big. “This gel is not only a superior lubricant, but also has anti-inflammatory and anti-irritating properties which makes it excellent for ophthalmic, joint and cosmetic applications.”
Now, after five years of study, Clinique has made the red algae a headliner in its new, pricy skincare line. “For more than five years, Clinique scientists conducted tests and learned how to combine and balance perfectly among the active ingredients and soothing ingredients,” bragged in their marketing materials for the new line. “This is not a simple achievement. The result is a harmonious combination of elements integrated into the most powerful remedy — the best serum ever developed Clinique.”
They also mention the algae which they call a “skin distress signal launcher” in their advertising, noting, “The potent red algae from the warm Israeli desert will soothe your skin.”
On August 2, 2014, residents of Toledo, Ohio, woke up to a startling warning from the city: “DO NOT DRINK THE WATER.” - A few samples from the city’s water-treatment plant contained worrisome levels of a toxic chemical. Algae in Lake Erie, where Toledo gets its water, made this toxin. Drinking water with this chemical — called microcystin — could make people sick. And boiling the water would only evaporate some of the liquid, concentrating the toxin in what was left behind. Those algae that make this toxin live in Lake Erie and many other lakes and streams. Normally, they pose no problem. But in the spring, fertilizer washes off of farms and into rivers that drain into open waters. That fertilizer contains two nutrients: nitrogen and phosphorus. Algae will gobble them up. In no time at all, their growth can skyrocket, forming what’s known as an algal bloom. And that’s what happened in Lake Erie this past summer.
“It is like we’re giving all of this algae candy,” says Isabel Escobar, a professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the University of Toledo. Winds would usually keep the algal bloom away from the pipes that Toledo uses to collect drinking water from the lake, Escobar says. But this time, light winds drove the algae toward the pipes. And the bloom was so big that even the deeper water, near these pipes, was rich in algae. Once inside the water-treatment plant, the algal cells broke apart. This released their toxin into the water.
Waking up to hear that the water coming into your house is dangerous to drink can be scary. But it’s also a sign that the rules put in place to protect drinking water do work. Two days after the notice went out to Toledo residents, it was canceled. Water treatment engineers had figured out how to remove the toxin and make the city’s drinking water safe.
But what happened in Toledo is a reminder that even in wealthy countries like the United States, clean water isn’t always available everywhere. “Society is growing and our water resources aren’t,” notes Andrea Dietrich. She’s an environmental engineer at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Clean drinking water “is a limited resource and we have to value it,” she says.
American lakes, rivers and streams used to be much more polluted than they are today. At one point in 1969, the oil and debris floating on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, actually caught on fire. The Cuyahoga River fire was one incident that helped spur passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. Now, factories no longer can dump their wastes directly into rivers and streams. Those caught doing that — either on purpose or by accident — are fined.
This system is far from perfect, though. The law doesn’t regulate pollution that can’t be traced back to a specific point (such as a factory). Examples of such “non-point” pollution include the chemicals that wash off of city streets, lawns and farms when it rains. The fertilizer that fueled Toledo’s microcystin buildup is one example of this runoff from rains.
Such runoff can pick up and carry other pollutants, including pesticides and weed killers. More than half of all streams that drain farm regions have levels of pesticides high enough to harm aquatic life. And 90 percent of waterways in and near cities also contain high amounts of these chemicals. Those are the results of a study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Wesley Stone and his colleagues published their findings September 11 in Environmental Science & Technology.
But even the threat of fines won’t keep all industry pollution from waterways. In January 2014, a chemical called crude MCHM leaked out of a storage facility in West Virginia and into the Elk River. That river is a source of drinking water for many communities downstream. “When the chemical spilled, there was very limited data on its safety, transport and toxicity,” says Dietrich. “That was a major problem.” For 10 days, some 300,000 people could not use their drinking water for anything — even showers.
“It is like we’re giving all of this algae candy,” says Isabel Escobar, a professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the University of Toledo. Winds would usually keep the algal bloom away from the pipes that Toledo uses to collect drinking water from the lake, Escobar says. But this time, light winds drove the algae toward the pipes. And the bloom was so big that even the deeper water, near these pipes, was rich in algae. Once inside the water-treatment plant, the algal cells broke apart. This released their toxin into the water.
Waking up to hear that the water coming into your house is dangerous to drink can be scary. But it’s also a sign that the rules put in place to protect drinking water do work. Two days after the notice went out to Toledo residents, it was canceled. Water treatment engineers had figured out how to remove the toxin and make the city’s drinking water safe.
But what happened in Toledo is a reminder that even in wealthy countries like the United States, clean water isn’t always available everywhere. “Society is growing and our water resources aren’t,” notes Andrea Dietrich. She’s an environmental engineer at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Clean drinking water “is a limited resource and we have to value it,” she says.
American lakes, rivers and streams used to be much more polluted than they are today. At one point in 1969, the oil and debris floating on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, actually caught on fire. The Cuyahoga River fire was one incident that helped spur passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. Now, factories no longer can dump their wastes directly into rivers and streams. Those caught doing that — either on purpose or by accident — are fined.
This system is far from perfect, though. The law doesn’t regulate pollution that can’t be traced back to a specific point (such as a factory). Examples of such “non-point” pollution include the chemicals that wash off of city streets, lawns and farms when it rains. The fertilizer that fueled Toledo’s microcystin buildup is one example of this runoff from rains.
Such runoff can pick up and carry other pollutants, including pesticides and weed killers. More than half of all streams that drain farm regions have levels of pesticides high enough to harm aquatic life. And 90 percent of waterways in and near cities also contain high amounts of these chemicals. Those are the results of a study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Wesley Stone and his colleagues published their findings September 11 in Environmental Science & Technology.
But even the threat of fines won’t keep all industry pollution from waterways. In January 2014, a chemical called crude MCHM leaked out of a storage facility in West Virginia and into the Elk River. That river is a source of drinking water for many communities downstream. “When the chemical spilled, there was very limited data on its safety, transport and toxicity,” says Dietrich. “That was a major problem.” For 10 days, some 300,000 people could not use their drinking water for anything — even showers.
- May 26, 2014 - A recent study by Utah State University (USU) with colleagues Chris McGinty and Jason Quinn, Jeffrey Moody published findings from an unprecedented worldwide microalgae productivity assessment in their May 26, 2014 article:
In the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The team's research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. Despite its promise as a biofuel source, the USU investigators questioned whether "pond scum" could be a silver bullet-solution to challenges posed by fossil fuel dependence. "Our aim wasn't to debunk existing literature, but to produce a more exhaustive, accurate and realistic assessment of the current global yield of microalgae biomass and lipids," Moody says.
With Quinn, assistant professor in USU's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and McGinty, associate director of USU's Remote Sensing/Geographic Information Systems Laboratory in the Department of Wildland Resources, Moody leveraged a large-scale, outdoor microalgae growth model. Using meteorological data from 4,388 global locations, the team determined the current global productivity potential of microalgae.
"Our results were much more conservative than those found in the current literature," Quinn says. "Even so, the numbers are impressive."
Algae, he says, yields about 2,500 gallons of biofuel per acre per year. In contrast, soybeans yield approximately 48 gallons; corn about 18 gallons. "In addition, soybeans and corn require arable land that detracts from food production," Quinn says. "Microalgae can be produced in non-arable areas unsuitable for agriculture."
The researchers estimate untillable land in Brazil, Canada, China and the U.S. could be used to produce enough algal biofuel to supplement more than 30 percent of those countries' fuel consumption. "That's an impressive percentage from renewable energy," Moody says. "Our findings will help to justify the investment in technology development and infrastructure to make algal biofuel a viable fuel source."
The high, average, and low monthly lipid productivity maps are presented in Fig. S7, Fig. S8, and Fig. S9, respectively. The lipid scale for these maps ranges from 0 to 3.0 m3/ha.month so a direct comparison can be made between the three maps. These maps do not include temporal resolution. In the northern hemisphere maximum lipid yields will be attained from May to July while in the southern hemisphere minimum lipid yields will be achieved during these months.
The high, average, and low monthly lipid productivity maps are presented in Fig. S7, Fig. S8, and Fig. S9, respectively. The lipid scale for these maps ranges from 0 to 3.0 m3/ha.month so a direct comparison can be made between the three maps. These maps do not include temporal resolution. In the northern hemisphere maximum lipid yields will be attained from May to July while in the southern hemisphere minimum lipid yields will be achieved during these months.
A number of countries around the world have implemented biodiesel goals. Brazil, China, and United States have biodiesel goals (by the years 2013, 2020, and 2030 respectively) of 7.30E+09, 1.40E+11, and 2.86E+11 liters per year respectively. Using the same efficiencies and packing factors as the previous scalability assessments, the amount of non-arable land required in Brazil, China, and United States to meet each respective biodiesel volume goal is 3%, 8%, and 49%, respectively. It is feasible for these three countries to achieve their biodiesel goals through microalgae and non-arable land use. Non-arable land utilization for microalgae production provides a benefit over traditional terrestrial crops such as soy which compete with food crops for agricultural land.
A number of countries around the world have implemented biodiesel goals. Brazil, China, and United States have biodiesel goals (by the years 2013, 2020, and 2030 respectively) of 7.30E+09, 1.40E+11, and 2.86E+11 liters per year respectively. Using the same efficiencies and packing factors as the previous scalability assessments, the amount of non-arable land required in Brazil, China, and United States to meet each respective biodiesel volume goal is 3%, 8%, and 49%, respectively. It is feasible for these three countries to achieve their biodiesel goals through microalgae and non-arable land use. Non-arable land utilization for microalgae production provides a benefit over traditional terrestrial crops such as soy which compete with food crops for agricultural land.
Non-Arable Biodiesel Yields determined by Moody et al. (2014) from Microalgae: Table S2 below represents the amount of non-arable land required to supplement 30% of the transportation fuel for different countries around the world based on microalgae production. From the 56 countries represented 61% are able to supplement 30% of their transportation fuel based on nonarable land and microalgae production while 39% cannot:
- Summary of April 21-23 2014 - Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference:
As ABLC opens, industry association executives rally the troops to fight the EPA’s slashed advanced biofuels targets, get pathway approvals faster, and to buzz about chemicals, chemicals, chemicals. http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2014/04/22/ablc-buzzes-about-biofuels-policy-administration-support-chemicals-and-lignin/ Also, the industry buzzed about a weird study on cellulosic biofuels emissions, and how much Administration bashing is a good idea.
In Washington, top bioeconomy trade groups predicted yesterday that the Renewable Fuel Standard would not be restructured in 2014 but expect that a bill could be brought early in 2015 — saying that if Republicans took control of the Senate that such a bill could be “among the very first things we see out of the new Congress.”
Advanced Ethanol Council executive director Brooke Coleman, BIO industrial & environmental section chief Brent Erickson, Advanced Biofuels Association president Mike McAdams, National Biodiesel Board policy head Anne Steckel and Re:chem Alliance chief advocate Corinne Young were the panelists in the opening session of ABLC, the annual bioeconomy leadership conference which continues through Wednesday with more than 100 speakers on the agenda on topics ranging from policy to finance and new technologies.
Erickson, Coleman, McAdams and Steckel all predicted that 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard targets, when finalized, would be higher than those proposed by the EPA late last year.*
*Background: The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) establishes annually increasing requirements for renewable fuels to be produced and used in the United States – rising to 36 billion gallons in 2022. Broadly, the goals of the statute are to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) from the U.S. transportation sector and the nation’s reliance on imported oil by displacing petroleum fuels. The program, which is part of the Clean Air Act, is administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Specifically, the statute establishes a set of nested Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for use of cellulosic biofuels, biomass-based diesel, and unspecified advanced and conventional renewable fuels. http://www.bio.org/sites/default/files/Environmental%20Impact%20of%202014%20RVO.pdf
The nested RVOs are designed to achieve reductions (not just to slow growth) in greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation, jet and heating fuels. Of the total obligation, at least 1 billion gallons must be biomass-based diesel (BBD) and an annually increasing volume must be qualifying gallons of cellulosic biofuel (which can be transportation, jet or heating fuel). Though the statutory volumes of cellulosic biofuel grow to 16 billion gallons in 2022, EPA is required to reset the annual RVO to the projected available quantity. Both BBD and cellulosic biofuels meet the advanced category, but the remaining advanced RVO can be filled with any additional qualifying advanced biofuel (transportation, jet or heating fuel). Likewise, all advanced biofuels meet the total RVO, but the portion not set aside for advanced can be met with conventional biofuels (defined as renewable fuels, such as ethanol, from corn). The statutory RVOs are displayed in Table 1:
- Summary of April 21-23 2014 - Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference: cont'd:
In a fiery address to delegates, McAdams said, “The left hand should coordinate with the right hand: when the Department of Energy spends almost a billion dollars to stand up the advanced biofuels industry and encourage the investment of more than $5 billion by private industry, and just as the technologies reach commercial viability and produced more than 3 billion ethanol-equivalent gallons last year, EPA cannot slash targets by huge percentages in one year and pull the rug from underneath almost every company in the field.”
McAdams called for an advanced biofuels target of 3.2 billion ethanol-equivalent gallons, pointing out that “we’re not talking about some kind of fairy-dust technology here – the industry actually produced 3.2 billion last year.”
Meanwhile, the NBB’s Steckel charted the rising production of biodiesel and renewable diesel since the RFS2 was established, noting that industry had met every production challenge and produced 1.8 billion wet gallons last year — including 266 million gallons of “drop-in”, infrastructure compatible renewable diesel — that reduced emissions by more than 50 percent compared to fossil fuels. In counting biodiesel and renewable diesel gallonage under the Renewable Fuel Standard, regulators credit 1.5 ethanol-equivalent gallons for every gallon of biodiesel and 1.7 ethanol-equivalent gallons for every gallon of renewable diesel, because those fuels have higher energy densities compared to ethanol.
Coleman explained that “last year, the White House saw something that it didn’t like, which was rising RIN* prices, and they feared that it would lead to higher gas prices,” and said that the slashed EPA targets were the result of panic in the executive branch of the government. But he said that the RFS (renewable fuel standard) was working as Congress intended, and that when RIN prices rise, they encourage production.
*(RIN or the Renewable Identification Number is a serial number assigned to a batch of biofuel for the purpose of tracking its production, use, and trading as required by the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Renewable Fuel Standard implemented according to the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the EPA is authorized to set annual quotas dictating what percentage of the total amount of motor fuels consumed in the US must be represented by biofuel blended into fossil fuels. Companies that refine, import or blend fossil fuels are obligated to meet certain individual RFS quotas based on the volume of fuel they introduce into the market. By fulfilling these requirements, the EPA projects that the industry will collectively satisfy the overall national quota they set. To ensure compliance, obligated parties are periodically required to demonstrate they have met their RFS quota by submitting a certain amount of RINs to the EPA. Because each of these RINs represent an amount of biofuel that has been blended into fossil fuels, the RINs submitted to the EPA by obligated parties are a quantitative representation of the amount of biofuel that has been blended into the fossil fuels used in America.
As defined in the regulation, under RFS2 (Renewable Fuel Standard 2), each batch-RIN generated will continue to uniquely identify not only a specific batch of renewable fuel, but also every gallon-RIN assigned to that batch. Thus the RIN will continue to be defined as follows:
RIN example: KYYYYCCCCFFFFFBBBBBRRDSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEE
K = Code distinguishing assigned RINs from separated RINs
YYYY = Calendar year of production or import
CCCC = Company ID
FFFFF = Facility ID
BBBBB = Batch number
RR = Code identifying the Equivalence Value
D = Code identifying the renewable fuel category
SSSSSSSS = Start of RIN block
EEEEEEEE = End of RIN block)
Sapphire Energy VP for corporate affairs Tim Zenk added that “the RVO proposes to cut volume requirements for advanced biofuels by more then 40%. In contrast they propose a less than 10% reduction to volume requirements for conventional biofuels. It delivers a material blow to the category of fuels that will deliver the largest reductions in GHG emissions, are infrastructure compliant and are required by the Department of Defense.”
Erickson also pointed to long wait times for approval of pathways by EPA was slowing the introduction of cellulosic fuels — noting that the average cellulosic biofuels producer has to wait almost two years for an approval. Erickson also said that the extension of the advanced biofuels tax credit, Farm Bill energy title implemetation and a tax credit for renewable chemicals were priorities for the industry.
- Summary of April 21-23 2014 - Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference: cont'd:
But one noted biofuels producer, LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren, stepped forward to defend the Administration:
“There’s been a lot of administration bashing. Every EPA ruling and in general support for advanced biofuels is being noted and picked apart. Even USDA was criticized, though the USDA has been the biggest supporter of biofuels due to the promise of jobs in rural communities. Yesterday’s it was mentioned that the Navy and USDA might limit feedstocks in the Defense Production Act project — but in such a negative light. The DPA requirement is a clever solution backed by tons of work, to deal with a request by the industry to bring capex to bear.”
A strange study appears out of Nebraska
In other ABLC buzz, delegates were aghast over a study published in Nature predicted that cellulosic biofuels made from corn stover would produce seven percent higher greenhouse gas emissions than conventional gasoline. “The core analysis depicts an extreme scenario that no responsible farmer or business would ever employ” Jan Koninckx, global business director for biorefineries at DuPont, told the Associated Press in responding to the study. “It would ruin both the land and the long-term supply of feedstock. It makes no agronomic or business sense.”
The study’s lead author, University of Nebraska assistant professor of biological systems engineering Adam Liska, conceded that, in developing the scenario, he had not accounted for renewable power generation in his calculations. Up to 40 percent of cellulosic biomass is diverted to power generation in typical biofuels production technologies. In fact, cellulosic biofuels companies like INEOS Bio and Abengoa typically commence renewable power generation first, as their technologies are commissioned, several months before starting ethanol production.
Several observers told the Digest that the study also assumed — in the scenario quoted by the Associated Press — that farmers would remove all residue from their fields, thereby requiring soil carbon to be restored from external sources. No cellulosic biofuels technology is currently in existence or in development that would require such a level of carbon supply from growers. “Look, you could create a study of stress tolerance,” an observer told the Digest, “and base it on how crops would perform if grown on the dark side of the moon, and the numbers would look bad, and it would be real data. But it wouldn’t be science, or scientific, because it would be based on a manufactured scenario that would never happen. And that’s what you have here. What farmer would remove all the carbon off his field? It’s absurd.”
ad.) March 31st, 2014 - In response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement it will halt new petitions for renewable fuel pathways for approximately six months, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today urged the agency to speed up rather than slow down the Petition Process for New Renewable Fuel Pathways under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). EPA first established the petition process in March 2010, as it finalized the rules for the RFS. Brent Erickson, Executive Vice President of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section, said, “EPA’s effort to improve the petition process for new renewable fuel pathways under the RFS is welcome. But the agency should aim to complete this review process in a more timely manner. “Advanced biofuel companies need a pathway to the fuel market in order to attract necessary investment to build and start up new production facilities that create new jobs. The lengthy wait for approval of new pathways chills job creation and investment in the sector.“In the past four years, EPA has completed fewer than half of the 62 petitions it has received for new renewable fuel pathways under the RFS. More than 36 petitions are still awaiting action – either approval or denial – and the average time that all petitioning companies have waited is currently 17 months. Companies filing cellulosic biofuel pathway petitions have faced the longest wait times – on average 24 months. This delay has slowed deployment of new advanced biofuel technologies. “Combined with the proposed rule the proposed delay of the petition process may further undermine the development of advanced and cellulosic biofuels just as they are set to produce millions of commercial gallons and launch a rapid scale up.”
ad.) March 31st, 2014 - In response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement it will halt new petitions for renewable fuel pathways for approximately six months, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today urged the agency to speed up rather than slow down the Petition Process for New Renewable Fuel Pathways under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). EPA first established the petition process in March 2010, as it finalized the rules for the RFS. Brent Erickson, Executive Vice President of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section, said, “EPA’s effort to improve the petition process for new renewable fuel pathways under the RFS is welcome. But the agency should aim to complete this review process in a more timely manner. “Advanced biofuel companies need a pathway to the fuel market in order to attract necessary investment to build and start up new production facilities that create new jobs. The lengthy wait for approval of new pathways chills job creation and investment in the sector.“In the past four years, EPA has completed fewer than half of the 62 petitions it has received for new renewable fuel pathways under the RFS. More than 36 petitions are still awaiting action – either approval or denial – and the average time that all petitioning companies have waited is currently 17 months. Companies filing cellulosic biofuel pathway petitions have faced the longest wait times – on average 24 months. This delay has slowed deployment of new advanced biofuel technologies. “Combined with the proposed rule the proposed delay of the petition process may further undermine the development of advanced and cellulosic biofuels just as they are set to produce millions of commercial gallons and launch a rapid scale up.”
- Interesting discussion: "Algae are good at lab level and in pilot projects but fail when scaled for commercial use. We don't have a single barrel of commercially viable oil from algae to date": https://www.linkedin.com/groups/I-was-told-Algae-are-55439.S.55900862?view=&item=55900862&&gid=55439&trk=eml-b2_anet_digest-null-2-null&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=1TeQrPbYso6Sg1
- February 5th, 2014: Why the Promise of Cheap Fuel from Super Bugs Fell Short The sell-off of synthetic biology pioneer LS9 goes to show that making biofuels from genetically engineered microbes has yet to deliver economically. By Martin LaMonica on February 5, 2014, Why It Matters: No biofuels can yet compete on both price and volume with fossil fuels.
LS9 had hoped to be selling diesel to refineries at least two years ago (see “Making Gasoline from Bacteria”). Instead, Renewable Energy Group, based in Ames, Iowa, intends to use the LS9 process to make smaller-volume specialty chemicals sometime in the next two years, and it has no immediate plans to make biofuel with the LS9 technology. LS9 is one of several companies founded on the premise that synthetic biology—advanced genetic engineering that radically changes the way an organism functions—could be used to make new strains of bacteria and yeast that would produce not just the common biofuels ethanol and biodiesel but also hydrocarbon fuels that are nearly identical to gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. Such fuels could be used more widely than existing biofuels, which typically need to be blended with conventional fuels or require special infrastructure.
But synthetic-biology companies have struggled to develop organisms that can make fuels at costs that can compete with oil, and they’ve yet to produce fuel at a large scale. Like LS9, many companies that set off to tap the gigantic markets for biofuels have pivoted toward chemicals, which command higher prices. (Breaking into these markets isn’t likely to be easy, however—they often require very high quality products, and new entrants face stiff competition from large petrochemical companies.). LS9 has a demonstration facility in Okeechobee, Florida, that successfully produced diesel at low volumes, and it signed partnerships with larger corporations for testing. But it struggled to get the financing to build a large-scale facility, says David Berry, a cofounder of LS9 and investor at Flagship Ventures. Solazyme, which uses genetically engineered algae to make products from sugar, has a program to develop fuels for the U.S. military, but much of its commercial activity is making oils for personal care and nutritional products. Amyris, which makes an oil called farnesene that can be converted into diesel, sells small amounts of fuel for buses but has focused its business on making products such as moisturizers and fragrances.
“Many of the claims being made in connection with biofuels in 2006 and 2007 were way too optimistic,” says MIT biotechnology and chemical engineering professor Gregory Stephanopoulos. The trouble, says James Collins, professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, is that while the science behind these companies was promising, “in most cases, they were university lab demonstrations that weren’t ready for industrialization.”
In addition to the challenge of designing effective organisms, synthetic-biofuel companies struggle with the high capital cost of getting into business. Because fuels are low-margin commodities, biofuel companies need to produce at large volumes to make a profit. Commercial plants can cost on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars. Some advanced biofuel companies have been able to secure the money for large-scale plants by going public, but now many investors have soured on biofuels. “People want to see things validated a little further along and take more technology risk off the table early. There’s little willingness for investors to pay for proofs of concept,” Berry says.
Jay Keasling, cofounder of LS9 and the CEO of the Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute acknowledges that synthetic-biology companies have moved more slowly than many investors had hoped. He also cautions against expecting bioenergy to undercut petroleum fuels on price anytime soon. Making cost-competitive fuels with genetically engineered microbes will require advances in both science and engineering, he says. “We’re never going to have biofuels compete with $20-a-barrel oil—period,” he says. “I’m hoping we have biofuels that compete with $100-a-barrel oil.”
In theory, hydrocarbons that can power planes and diesel engines are more valuable than ethanol, which has to be blended. But the yield of converting sugars to hydrocarbons is lower than the yield for ethanol because of the basic chemistry, Keasling says, so the economics depend more heavily on the price of sugar. “[Getting] the yields up to make them economically viable is very hard to do,” he says.
Keasling says new techniques are needed to speed up the process of engineering fuel-producing organisms. If engineers could isolate desired genetic traits quickly and predict how a combination of metabolic pathway changes would affect a microorganism, then designing cells would be much faster, he says. “We need to be as good at engineering biology as we are at engineering microelectronics,” he says. Optimizing crops for energy production and new techniques for making cheaper sugars could also help bring down the cost.
After cofounding LS9, Berry cofounded another biotech company called Joule that seeks to decouple fuel production from the price of sugar. It has engineered strains of photosynthetic microorganisms to produce fuels using sunlight, carbon dioxide, and nutrients, rather than from sugar (see “Audi Backs a Biofuel Startup” and “Demo Plant Targets Ultra-High Ethanol Production”).
Given the challenges that have beset synthetic biology companies so far, some new companies are deciding from the outset not to make biofuels. Indeed, the first company to be spun out of Keasling’s Joint BioEnergy Institute—Lygos, based in Albany, California—has decided to make a few high-value chemicals, rather than fuel.
- Algae may be a potential source of biofuels and biochemicals even in cool climate - March 20, 2014: Algae may be a potential source of biofuels and biochemicals even in cool climate http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/green/newsid=34859.php#ixzz2xkijyseN
- Goldman Sachs Clean Energy Ecosystem Summit - September, 2013: focused on innovation in the global energy sector, and opportunities and challenges shaping its future. The 2013 summit, held September 17-18 in Menlo Park, California, brought together leaders in the clean energy field: startups; global energy, technology and industrial companies; investors; NGOs; universities; environmental organizations; and federal, state and local officials. White paper link.
- Algae Competition awarded 7 prize winners from 40 finalists and 140 entries from 40 countries - May 1st 2012: The entries represent a glimpse into our future, harnessing the promise of algae, 30 times more productive than terrestrial plants. Here are some emerging themes in algae landscape and architecture design, novel algae production systems and delicious new foods from algae: http://www.algaecompetition.com/algae-slideshows/algae-awards/.
- Algal biofuel: In bloom or dead in the water? Tom Ireland reports from the Society's recent debate on whether fuel made from algae could ever replace oil - The Biologist Vol 61(1) p20-24.References 1. Lundquist, T. J. et al. A Realistic Technology and Engineering Assessment of Algae Biofuel Production. Energy Biosciences Institute (2010). http://works.bepress.com/tlundqui/5, 2. Shirvani, T. et al. Life cycle energy and greenhouse gas analysis for algae-derived biodiesel. Energy Environ. Sci. 4, 3773-3778 (2011).
- One Barrel for Baja (1BFB), July 11, 2011: is a project made possible by the San Diego Center for Algal Biotechnology (SD-CAB) in support of research aimed towards understanding and developing eco-friendly energy solutions. The goal of 1BFB is to obtain enough biomass to fill one 42-gallon barrel with algal biofuel (also known as B100 biodiesel). The barrel will be used in the Baja 1000, a series of off-road desert races that will take place on November 17, 2011 in the Baja California Peninsula.