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Hello all:
this thread is being started in response to someone's request about microalgae info for BD production. I have been working on a report for the State of Hawaii on biodiesel crop implementation. Algae came up as one potential crop, mainly due to our access to water (obviously) and our high rates of sunshine, which can have a great effect on the rates of production. There are currently two algae prodcuing 'farms' in Hawaii, but they cater solely to the health-foods industry.
Conducting this analysis was difficult for algae, because there are not many folks who have the experience to discuss it intelligently. I sought out a few of those folks. Some of them worked with the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) from the 1970's-1990's. Their work started with algae as a mitigator of CO2 emissions from coal-buring power plants. They could build ponds alongside furnaces and utilize flue gas for algae production, thus capturing GHG's. After they realized the success in produsing algal yields, they began trying to find ways to capitalize off this production. That is when they began isolating different species of algae, mostly diatoms and green algae, for high fat contents. they eventually developed some 3,000 strands of algae. From this point, they began to look into BD development.
I have spoken with a few of these experts directly. They have serious reservations about algae as a biodiesel crop in the near-future. They have stated that with a huge investment (>$25mil USD), that some kind of operation could be restarted. The thing is, you would have to re-develop the lines to commercial scale, build the facilities necessary (no small task), develop a market for the by-product, and find an economical way to control contamination. contamination has been one of their biggest obstacles. Small-scale operations have been done on a tria-basis to find new ways of controlling contamination, but the investment for such technologies greatly increases cost. And if contamination is not controlled big problems arise compared to more traditional BD crops. Suppose you are producing oil from an algae that is ~85% oil (this does exist), but it becomes contaminated with a strain that is only 40% oil. This has thrown off your expected returns to a degree that you must expect to lose $ off this 'batch.' Who's to say the next one won't have the same issues?
There is some optimism, however. The experts tend to feel that currently the only way to make $ on algae is to produce health-food niche products and use ponds to capture GHG's. These are all quite 'green-minded' people from my interactions with them. They seem to feel that BD from algae is likely another 20+ years away in any significant amount.
I hope this helps satisfy some of your interest. If you have more questions, I'm happy to attempt an answer on more specifics. I am no expert, but dealing with a few of them has taught me a great deal about this topic. Please feel free to contact me.
Cheers.
this thread is being started in response to someone's request about microalgae info for BD production. I have been working on a report for the State of Hawaii on biodiesel crop implementation. Algae came up as one potential crop, mainly due to our access to water (obviously) and our high rates of sunshine, which can have a great effect on the rates of production. There are currently two algae prodcuing 'farms' in Hawaii, but they cater solely to the health-foods industry.
Conducting this analysis was difficult for algae, because there are not many folks who have the experience to discuss it intelligently. I sought out a few of those folks. Some of them worked with the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) from the 1970's-1990's. Their work started with algae as a mitigator of CO2 emissions from coal-buring power plants. They could build ponds alongside furnaces and utilize flue gas for algae production, thus capturing GHG's. After they realized the success in produsing algal yields, they began trying to find ways to capitalize off this production. That is when they began isolating different species of algae, mostly diatoms and green algae, for high fat contents. they eventually developed some 3,000 strands of algae. From this point, they began to look into BD development.
I have spoken with a few of these experts directly. They have serious reservations about algae as a biodiesel crop in the near-future. They have stated that with a huge investment (>$25mil USD), that some kind of operation could be restarted. The thing is, you would have to re-develop the lines to commercial scale, build the facilities necessary (no small task), develop a market for the by-product, and find an economical way to control contamination. contamination has been one of their biggest obstacles. Small-scale operations have been done on a tria-basis to find new ways of controlling contamination, but the investment for such technologies greatly increases cost. And if contamination is not controlled big problems arise compared to more traditional BD crops. Suppose you are producing oil from an algae that is ~85% oil (this does exist), but it becomes contaminated with a strain that is only 40% oil. This has thrown off your expected returns to a degree that you must expect to lose $ off this 'batch.' Who's to say the next one won't have the same issues?
There is some optimism, however. The experts tend to feel that currently the only way to make $ on algae is to produce health-food niche products and use ponds to capture GHG's. These are all quite 'green-minded' people from my interactions with them. They seem to feel that BD from algae is likely another 20+ years away in any significant amount.
I hope this helps satisfy some of your interest. If you have more questions, I'm happy to attempt an answer on more specifics. I am no expert, but dealing with a few of them has taught me a great deal about this topic. Please feel free to contact me.
Cheers.
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