Is Algae-to-Energy Sustainable?

Another algae hype article. Companies involved in algae are creating a hyped up image to build an investment bubble. Algae products today are used in making food and pharmaceuticals due to cost.

Algae is a long way from becoming a fuel that is competitive with oil, gas, or coal. I am far from an expert but even a eight hour review of the subject on the web will show that many problems still exist.

Pond grown algae has a low efficiency. If the pond is open contamination is an issue. If covered the cost goes up to build and maintain the pond.

Reactor algae are more efficient but the cost of the reactors are much higher. For fuel manufacturing the light has to be natural. Algae to be efficient must have rest periods, darkness,at a frequency much higher then a day period. Need to concentrate light and switch it on an off is not simple. To do this by flow, controlled turbulence, is not simply. A lot of equipment is needed to control light concentration, flow, food, and cooling.

Articles like this one forget to define the state of development. I would not have said this a year ago. The collapse of housing bubble and the reasons why it occurred makes me more willing to comment on the lack of facts in articles.

------"Algae is a long way from becoming a fuel that is competitive with oil, gas, or coal................many problems still exist."-------

Far more problems exist with oil, gas and coal. Climate change, depleting supplies past Peak Oil, environmental destruction due to strip mines, destruction of watersheds and toxic pollution of both surface and subsurface water, air pollution, inherrent geographic distributribution that allows monopolistic market control and manipulation, economic damage, political corruption and favoratism, famine, war, pollution from spills, and many more problems due to fossil fuel use.

The only problems with biodiesel use are gearing up production to meet demand. All other problems are not present with biodiesel made from algae. So what if it costs more to cover a pond to grow algae----take a look at what it costs to produce bitumen from oil sands in Canada---in terms of money, energy, distance to market, environmental damage(march 2009 National Geographic Magazine). No matter how you want to look at it, fossil fuel use is a losing proposition.

If we continue to use fossil fuels, we will become the fossils.

http://www.youtube.com/ValcentProductsInc

"If we continue to use fossil fuels, we will become the fossils." True enough. For people who listened carefully to the podcast, however, they heard that algae schemes can use carbon from fossil sources to feed the algae. And there was a bit of a dance around answering the question "can you call this 'renewable'?".

Algae schemes can obtain CO2 from 2 possible sources:
1) the atmosphere, which would be renewable and sustainable, or
2) emissions from a coal / natural gas plant. The 2nd category of algae is still fossil based CO2, which then gets released to the atmosphere rather than sequestered or avoided in the first place. OK, yes, you get 2 uses out of the fossilized carbon atom rather than one, but it IS fossil fuel. It's an efficiency play.

Most algae schemes propose using fossil sources of carbon to feed the algae. These are not renewable and should not be called "renewable". The approaches that use CO2 out of the atmosphere are truly renewable and are one of the few hopes for powering airplanes, bulldozers, and boats using renewable fuels.

Listen carefully and ask the right questions. thanks for the podcast!
Fred

Thomas -- if you listen to the audio podcast carefully, I think you'll find less hype than you've characterized. We know that algae is very expensive to produce. Riggs was very clear that we are in the early stages in understanding the true potential of this fuel source. While he didn't stipulate exact costs for this technology, he was clear in saying that it is still expensive and only one of many other fuel sources.

Fred G. -- you bring up some very interesting points. Asking ourselves whether algae is truly renewable is extremely important at this point in time....Perhaps it is an efficiency play if it relies on fossil energies to be cost-effective. I don't know that Riggs was claiming it was renewable. Nor do I think he totally danced around the question. It sounded to me like he was describing a carbon-reduction and efficiency solution, not necessarily a strict renewable energy option.

I think he has a great point: We're going to have liquid-based fuels for a long time. Why not utilize the existing infrastructure and transportation methods that we already have? We can reduce emissions at existing plants or industrial facilities and use them to fill our cars. That sounds a lot like electric transportation today.....While electric cars may be more efficient, we're still tapping into a fossil-energy driven grid. The only difference is that with electric transport you capture the benefits of the green grid as you put more renewables online....

So I think the debate over whether algae is renewable is a good one to have. Defining these new forms of energy will be key in helping us understand their benefits and drawbacks. Once we figure out how to talk about it, I think we'll find that it is still a good option for certain applications....

Thanks for the comments.
-Stephen Lacey

I have to agree with the sceptics. While biodiesel from algae would be a fabulous acheivement, the basic biology, physics and economics makes it virtually impossible. I very much hope I am wrong and that in a few years I will be in the position of the experts that said heavier than air machines will never fly. See:
http://mtkass.blogspot.com/2008/09/biodiesel-from-algae-no-way.html

This blog could be looked at as a catalogue of the difficulties that must be overcome rather than as any sort of proof that the concept is impossible.
wlhgmk@gmail.com

The process mentioned here is one of the several processes that I have come to know. Most of them involve the input of light, carbon dioxide and nutrients in favorable water and temperature conditions to produce algae.The next step is to separate oil and algae cake. This process requires power and costs; that make oil from algae uncompetitive at present. However, few companies have developed certain strains of algae that directly produces oil in the bio-reactors eliminating oil separation process all together. I believe that such technologies have more chances of success. qsurti@gmail.com

I use to believe Algae was an answer....that being it is the plant that makes crude oil really a renewable fuel...but it takes too much time to produce and grow Algae for the immediate future. Coming up with gimmicks to help Algae grow faster by using microwave light, or using nuclear waste to generate growth is a step into more mental anxiety..

But....What I do have hope for is the creation and use of methane. Now this is a clean burning gas, and it can be produced much faster, and less expensive than rolling down Algae Route 66.

There is a lot of potty in the world to make methane....pig farms, chicken farms, cattle farms, milk farms, and even human waste, from sewer treatment can be used to make methane production gas centers. You can even make it in your own garage with two barrels. Some cow dung, or pig poop, with some straw, by adding warm water heated by the sun in keeping the drums warm and you can make your own methane gas.

http://www.truehealth.org/methane.html.....

In China I have seen them dig out a swimming pool size pit, and having pvc pipe line the bottom which circulates warm water from a solar heated water pipes attached to the roof of the adjoining building. They fill it with straw or any brush debris, such as chopped limbs, sawdust, leaves, corn stalks, waste paper etc..mixed with cow dung, or any animal waste .. They cover the top with a plastic and wait. A day or two passes and the plastic tarp begins to rise like a balloon. This is the methane gas being captured....

In many places in the country side people run a pipe from their homemade pit that gives them methane to cook their food on, and heat their showers, for hot water. I think this is a good way to handle human waste too....and then afterwards the stuff is removed from the pit, and put into piles to be used as potting soil...of dirt for better growing of flowers.. I think this is the best method..in concern to battling global warming. Give us new cars for Methane use

Fred G------"For people who listened carefully to the podcast, however, they heard that algae schemes can use carbon from fossil sources to feed the algae. And there was a bit of a dance around answering the question "can you call this 'renewable'?".------------

CO2 injection makes nice charts and graphs about high production rates. Colored lights swirling around in glass tanks and people in white lab coats watching and taking notes makes everything look technological and high tech(hence, expensive)--------LOL, like something out of a low budget 1960's scifi movie.

The truth is, there is no need for carbon injection. Algae have been growing just fine for approximately 4.5 billion years without it. Basically what we are talking about here is growing pond scum in fish tanks that are optomized to grow pond scum instead of fish. If you want to add more CO2 to the system, just bubble plain old air through the tanks---it is cheap, readily available anywhere, and the problem with greenhouse gas is too much CO2 in the atmosphere anyway. There is no need to make use of fossil fuels to grow algae. Algae can however make use of nitrates and phosphates in sewage. We need to treat sewage anyway----algae and bacteria are what nature uses to break down sewage.

Didn't listen to the podcast, read a report outlining similar proposal. The entire purpose of CO2 injection in that case was to capture emissions from existing power plants - two birds, one stone - not to combust fossil fuels for the sake of growing algae.

The day approaches when we discover options including mining our own landfills cost effective compared to tapping increasingly limited resources.

The production of methane occurs all around us, constantly. The trick is to capture it. We must increase awareness that even at the small municipal level, combining trash/yard waste and sewage treatment provides at least two valuable products - methane and compost.

The innovative ideas will involve multiple scientific disciplines. Bringing together ideas from specialized fields often runs counter to professional interests, but these efficiencies need to be utilized.

Combining our sciences, we see that efficiency lost at small scale is compensated with economy in transportation, regional employment. Rather than a massive centralized effort, focus should be on small, regional increments utilizing native resources, avoiding mistakes of fossil fuel industries limited by concentrated deposits.

Where coal is burned, CO2 may be captured. Algae is one method. Where waste is collected, there are alcohols, alkanes, fatty acids to be collected before the methane stage, decomposition heat to be captured. Many small increments, many scientific disciplines. Many opportunities for small plants, regional collection areas, for the business co-operating with waste collectors, power plants, municipalities.

"Big" energy incorporation has given us the mistaken impression that centralization, narrowed focus of effort is the answer - the waste in transpo belies that concept. Even electric becomes inefficient with amp loss, step-up, step-down transformers wasting heat into the atmosphere, tons of PCBs.

Use the algae, use the methane, use them all.

David Larson wrote:
"The production of methane occurs all around us, constantly. The trick is to capture it. We must increase awareness that even at the small municipal level, combining trash/yard waste and sewage treatment provides at least two valuable products - methane and compost."

To be clear. Methane is generated without oxygen - hence anerobic digestion. Compost is produced with oxygen or aerobic.

While our organization doesn't outright support Anerobic Digesters, they are one of the cleaner waste/energy alternatives. Landfill Gas Methane capture on the other hand is dirty and problematic.

We promote composting, and with that you would keep out organics from the landfills and this way methane would not be generated and released into the atmosphere. You reduce the need for landfills and incinerators (wastes of energy, particularly when burning mostly water based organics), and you have quality compost to offer to local farms.

Composting is mainly by bacteria of the Clostridia family---they are anaerobic. (these bacteria are found in ruminant guts---which is why compost heaps are "primed" with cattle, sheep, or goat manure)

I think your organization(whatever it is) promoting composting is a good thing, however, I don't think tapping land fill areas for methane is particularly "dirty" or bad either.

My feeling is---keep up the composting! You are doing a good thing. Catch the methane generated from the compost and use it and you are doing an even better thing.

Most algae schemes propose using fossil sources of carbon to feed the algae. These are not renewable and should not be called "renewable". The approaches that use CO2 out of the atmosphere are truly renewable and are one of the few hopes for powering airplanes, bulldozers, and boats using renewable fuels.
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This is not entirely true. I develped a system that uses sea weed. It is renewable, sustainable and the fact that it can be grown in just about any part of the world makes it a viable alternative to fossil based fuels. Exxon and Continential airlines undertook a study to see if the oil giant could produce bio algae economically. The tests were spectacular regarding the aircraft which were ran though a series of tests which included having all of their engines turned off and restarted at 37500 feet. The only thing Exxon complained about is the copious amounts of water needed to produce the bio algae.
If a person can produce large amounts of purified water on an ongoing basis they would have the best shot for becoming the future leader of the world as it relates to water and energy. I think that I have a pretty good shot at it. This is what makes America so great. We get behind the idea that makes the most sense economically. How many wars to we have to fight half way around the world to insure we have energy here in the United States? If you are naive enough to think that we are in Iraq to give the Iraqi children Walmart water your an idiot. Some suggest that this is an illegal war and the only reason we care about this country is because of their oil reserves. It made sense when I heard this rumor. I am not so sure Big Oil would agree as they haveing nothing to gain by stealing their oil? Could the United States survive without oil? If the answer is no! then we have an obligation to move away from a one trick pony and realize that we are making a fundamental mistake both polically and economically.

If Americans understood in the United States spends securing oil, we would be off of it in a matter of years. Our addiction to foreign oil is a huge impact on not only planet the economy as well. Alan Dulles said that every nation needs cheap yet reliable source of energy. We understand we have an question then becomes whether the possibilities are realistic. The big oil companies are really cared about the United States they would do whatever it is humanly possible to end our addiction to foreign oil. My guess is they are acting as a water boy kings and princes in the Middle East. $2.1 billion a day oil that we cannot afford is ludicrous. Tell me how does that benefit our country? So the big oil companies submit false choices with fear uncertainty and doubt. All the while people in this country are suffering under the strain of economic hardship. Notwithstanding the fact planet continues to disintegrate around this at the hands of mankind.
Whether or not you are a Republican or a Democrat the same telefax affect both sides of the aisle you one benefits are the people in the middle east and the oil companies who are beholden to them.