Rapid Growth in the Algae Market; Managing Risk in the Renewables Space

We've been at this since the Aquatic Species Program, so what's new? Biodiesel still costs way too much. We still can't control the process to avoid contamination, nor have we found a way to get rid of the glycerol. I do not know of a single production-level bioreactor in the world, at least not a successful one. I do not believe that biodiesel production will ever be successful, except where carbon dioxide fixing from power plants, or other large polluters, is the primary function of the process. There is still a long way to go in biodiesel from algae!

I would like someone to clarify what I hear is the largest single issue in the production of oil from algae, extracting the oil from the algae themselves.

Can it be done in a commercially viable process and still offer a product than can be competetive in the market place??

Hi,
I am the author of The Green Investing Blog (www.howtoinvestgreen.com) and I could use your help in finding biofuel, and especially algae biofuel stocks. If you know of any, please let me know here or post a comment on my blog.

Thank You!

--------"Biodiesel still costs way too much"--------

. That is good. It means that demand is present. When volume of production meets or exceeds demand, prices go down. If there is demand and limited availlability----it means the cost will be high and that greater production capacity is viable. Greater production capacity means that more product is available and cost decreases in order to sell the greater volume available. When supply available exceeds demand, then it is no longer profitable to produce any given product----and production is curtailed until supply and demand curves cross within a profitable margin. This is the way that biodiesel, petroleum or any other product performs on the free market.

-------"Biodiesel still costs way too much. We still can't control the process to avoid contamination, "-------------

wrong

------"nor have we found a way to get rid of the glycerol."--------

There is no need to "get rid" of glycerol---it works just fine with no refining whatever----glycerol is removed because it has a higher value than the base feedstock as fuel, and removing the glycerol does not affect the performance as a fuel.

----------"I do not know of a single production-level bioreactor in the world, "-------

http://www.petrosuninc.com/alternative-energy.html

PetroSun Rio Hondo TX

http://www.naturalnews.com/023378.html

Valcent closed loop algal growth system.

-------"I would like someone to clarify what I hear is the largest single issue in the production of oil from algae, extracting the oil from the algae themselves."-----------

Oil is simply pressed from the biomass with hydraulic presses---the same as oil is produced from any other vegetable matter.

There is no need for CO2 input from any source other than the atmosphere to grow algae. Algae have been growing successfully using only atmospheric CO2 for almost 3 billion years.

All or most all of the negative comments are in response to the article are wrong.

Algal oil is the best source for large amounts of biodisel and other products.
Chlorella vulgaris is the current favorite cultivar.
The covered, sealed pond plan proposed by Algaloildiesel will keep the contamination to the irreducible minimum.
The 25 micron Chlorella cell can be opened using low energy and on a mass scale, thus allowing for the extraction of lipids.
AlgalOilDiesel, LLP has many of the answers on paper and is looking for a way to build a pilot plant. Please read the paper, PROSPECTS FOR THE BIODIESEL IINDUSTRY: http://algaloildiesel.wetpaint.com/page/PROSPECTS+FOR+THE+BIODIESEL+INDUSTRY

Please visit and read about algae and algal oil: http://algaloildiesel.wetpaint.com

Jim Miller
jimmiller5417@yahoo.com

I hope I am not in the position of one of the pundits that predicted that heavier than air machines would never fly but here goes anyway. Diesel from algae will never be commercial. Fine chemicals from algae culture, quite possibly but not diesel. My reasons are as follows.

The theoretical maximum efficiency of photosynthesis when you multiply the efficiencies of each step is about 6.6%. Best results in crops such as sugar cane have reached about 3.5%. With luck half of the mass of the algae will be oil, the rest of the energy having gone into proteins, cell coating and so forth. We are down to, with great luck, 2% of the incident energy of the sun being expressed as diesel energy. We still haven't separated the algae from the water (expensive in energy terms) or separated the oil from the algae, not to mention refining the oil or possibly converting it to diesel and shipping it. You will be doing really well to show any net capture of sun energy for use in a vehicle.
Compare this with capturing the sun energy with a solar cell at 20% efficiency, "shipping" it in a high tension power line at 80% efficiency, charging a car battery at 90% efficiency. You are likely to have about an all over efficiency of 10% from sun to the back tires of your electric lizzie. It is no contest.

---------"The theoretical maximum efficiency of photosynthesis when you multiply the efficiencies of each step is about 6.6%. "----------

The efficiency of the photosynthesis under natural conditions is estimated at 6.6%
http://www.upei.ca/~physics/p261/Content/Sources_Conversion/Photo-_synthesis/photo-_synthesis.htm
However, algeal culture makes several changes that overcome natural conditions----for instance, The Valcent process increases incident light availability dramatically as do several other processes.
Growing algae in heated(desert) conditions either in ponds or closed circuit growth mediums dramatically increases natural cellular metabolism. The algae grow at many times the growth rate that would be the maximum possible in their natural environment, the sea.
In the final analysis---the conversion efficiency factor does not matter----sunlight is free. The sunlight is there whether we use it to grow algae or not. It can also easily be manipulated---if the electromagnetic to chemical conversion factor is low---increase the electromagnetic input and increase the flow of algeal medium---grow more algae, faster. Mirrors, heat, areation, and selective breeding are all possibilities to increase output from any given size system. Or, simply scale up the system to match desired output. Nothing about growing algae for oil works with a scarce or limited resource that would mean sacrificing another benefit to increase production. We are talking about the two main inputs being seawater and sunlight. It isn't even necessary to remove the water from the culture medium---intracellur oil storage can be easily accessed by chemical or ultrasonic cellular lysis---the oils then float to the top and are skimmed off. These are both already well known and common used methods, as well as centrifuging, filtering, or electrolosis----all commonly used industrial seperation methods.

-------" With luck half of the mass of the algae will be oil, the rest of the energy having gone into proteins, cell coating and so forth. We are down to, with great luck, 2% of the incident energy of the sun being expressed as diesel energy. "--------------------

No---it doesn't matter how much sunlight we used, we are not taking that away from anything else.
It means that if we grow 100 tons of algae----we have 50 tons of oil.

--------"We still haven't separated the algae from the water (expensive in energy terms) or separated the oil from the algae, not to mention refining the oil or possibly converting it to diesel and shipping it. "-----------

Why does everyone keep insisting that simply filtering algae out of water is so difficult or expensive? What is there to be difficult or expensive about it? This is the least problematic aspect of the entire process.

-------"not to mention refining the oil or possibly converting it to diesel and shipping it. "--------------

There is no refining needed to use liquid vegetable oil in diesel engines, that is what they were originally designed for by Rudolf Diesel. Refining more precisely refers to removing components that have a higher value than the fuel component such as glycerol, and adjusting properties to meet a uniform set of usage conditions---conditioning to remain liquid within temperature ranges. Petroleum diesel has to be shpped the equivalent of twice around the earth to be available---biodiesel since it has no geographic production limitations has almost no shipping cost by comparison.

--------"You will be doing really well to show any net capture of sun energy for use in a vehicle."-------------

If you put 10 gallons of biodiesel oil into a vehicle that gets 30 miles per gallon, and the vehicle weights 2 tons--- 30 X 2 X10 = 600 ton/miles is the amount of solar energy you will get out as useful work.

--------

----------"Compare this with capturing the sun energy with a solar cell at 20% efficiency, "shipping" it in a high tension power line at 80% efficiency, charging a car battery at 90% efficiency. You are likely to have about an all over efficiency of 10% from sun to the back tires of your electric lizzie. It is no contest."-----------------

Once your battery is charged---any additional sunlight hours available are wasted. Once the system is charged, it cann't make use of any more additional power. The efficiency of the system is limited to hours of sunlight available and the total storage capacity of the system. Photosynthesis is a two stage system. During the light portion of the cycle--cellular metabolizism stores the light energy as ATP, during the dark cycle, the cells metabolize ATP into carbohydrates. Plants store all the available light energy when it is available----and convert that energy to carbohydrates during darkness. There are no PV photocells that function both during periods of light and dark.
Your numbers purporting to show that a PV system is more efficient than biological systems is complete conjecture. It has no basis in fact at all. It is true that there are other products from biomass growth besides oils. However, protiens, cellulose and other biomass components are also valuable products with their own uses as well. For instance, left over biomass after oil production can be used as a feed source for other species such as shrimp, crab or fish. It could also be used to produce ethanol from the cellulose, or dried and burned directly.

It's discouraging to read negative attitudes, as expressed in comment 1. We need to remember, for example, the enormous effort it took to split the atom.
This country,as well as the entire world is desperate for a source of renewable clean energy, and discouraging the efforts of those who are willing to reach for it is counterproductive. The first country to make the major breakthrough and commercialize it will reap unimaginable benefits.
I find it interesting that neither the government, the media, or the financial institutions have considered the contribution that the constant drain of high energy costs may have played in the failure of american's to make their mortgage payments, and the resulting fiscal collapse.
WE NEED ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND WE NEED IT NOW!!!
Thank God for people like Boon Pickens and authors like Fred Linn. If enough of us adopt their mindset progress and success will follow.

--------"I find it interesting that neither the government, the media, or the financial institutions have considered the contribution that the constant drain of high energy costs may have played in the failure of american's to make their mortgage payments, and the resulting fiscal collapse.
WE NEED ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND WE NEED IT NOW!!!"----------

You are absolutely and completely correct Bob!!!! AND how much energy dependence is contributing to inflation.

Thanks for the comment, it's appreciated.

Fred Lynn was my favorite baseball player as a kid from Boston...I hope you, Fred Linn, are right about algae's potential. It makes sense.

Check out the book "Do It Yourself Guide to Biodiesel" by Guy Percella, published by Uysses Press.

A few sections are a little bit dated already(developments in the field are taking place faster than books are able to keep up with) However, the information and technical data are good.

Learn how you can make and use your own biodiesel fuel using waste cooking oil.

We are a PE film extrusion company in NW Washington State with great interest in this subject. We may be looking at this wrong but feel that at some point the growing of algae in closed systems on a smaller scale has potential to provide some of feedstock for regional bio-fuel refineries. We are working to create a low-cost, flexible growing/water movement tube structure that we are thinking could eventually be part of a perhaps semi- portable system that could take advantage of currently unused algae growing and carbon scrubbing potential situations. I would welcome comment and would especially be interested in having the opportunity to communicate with Fred Linn on this subject.

Dick Mathes
dick@crownfilmsllc.com

I have sent you my contact info by email Dick. I am in Portland.

The development of biodiesel and ethanol from a single feedstock, with a useful high-protein byproduct is actually a far more feasible plan than most involving hydrogen fuel. The biggest problems we face are in-fighting among proponents of various fuels, and pessimism, stripping the industry of the ability to overcome the inertia of the status quo.

Granted that there are certain aspects of biodiesel, cellulosic ethanol, and fuel cells that are going to take some development, but consider that gasoline engines have been around for over a century, and the current carcinogenic filth, delivering abysmal efficiency, is the best they have done so far. The major improvements to gasoline, the elimination of tetraethyl lead and oxygenation, were forced upon them by government.

We need all of our alternatives. Althought I disagree strongly with widespread use of CNG in cars, mostly due to concern about raising home heating costs, we need to produce natural gas, from fossil sources, biomass, [landfill and sewage outgassing, livestock operations] and even coal gasification.

Truck and rail shipping use enourmous quantities of diesel, we need biodiesel. I believe we still need ethanol, to replace gasoline, and for fuel cells. That's right, ethanol is a better fuel than gaseous hydrogen for fuel cells, look it up.

Wind power is in the process of proving itself feasible, and the steps being made in solar films and coatings are amazing.

Our current power sources have had a long time to develop, and has left us with diminishing resources and higher prices. As alternative fuels develop, they increase their resources and lower prices, trying to find a better, more streamlined way.

Face it. Sooner or later, we are going to run out of uranium, coal, fossil natural gas and petroleum. We will never run out of ideas.

"I may be crazy, but I have a website, too."

mog@mogblog.org

Just reviewed my own comments. Apologies for spelling and grammar.

Investing in Algae Biofuel http://www.greenchipstocks.com/report/investing-in-algae-biofuel/109

we need biodiesel. I believe we still need ethanol, to replace gasoline
Just recently I read that there is algae that will make diesel and a close gasoline if I can find it agine or you do let people Know about it

I believe that algae can perform in place of fossil oil. We can extract the CO2 in manufacturing the oil. The best thing is how far we have came. Brian Crone who inventing the Mcgyan process which makes the oil into biodiesel in less than six seconds and has no by product like glycerol.Check out Ever cat fuels. The next company is Oilgae for using fish to convert the algae into oil by allowing them to just eat it. Then they extract the fish for oil.
Yes there are many new ideas that are coming to life. The question is any body out there willing to take the chances?