Algae Biodiesel - The Only Viable Future?

So guys, what do we think, is biodiesel algae the savior of alternative fuels?

16000 acres sounds awfully optimistic to me. 1 squre mile is 640 acres. Divide those into 16000 that makes 25 sqare miles of pond, that is a 5 m x 5 m square. I think that there are a few zeros missing here. G. S.

I love the idea of algae for biodiesel. Currently however I don't think there are any real viable ways of harvesting the oil or at least not on an individual level.

The thing I would really like to see is households being able to make their own fuel rather than being monopolized by big oil.

I think algea can be alternative to vegetable oil produced from crops or of tree origin

I will like to share that biodiesel production from algae is feasable but only on small scale but this may be expensive than biodiesel produced from tree origin oil like jatropa oil biodiesel.

The first problem I see with this technology is that people are trying to find the perfect algae to use before production. Nonsense, why waste ten years waiting for some lab to figure out what species to use when you can start experimenting now?

I would think that industries that produce milk and other bio products will have the best experience to deal with creating pure stocks. The problem is will patent holders hold the industry hostage as oil tech holders do now (the high price of drilling)?

Emergency government regulations may have to re-write patent laws so that innovation can occur without harming the public? In other words, if you break down on the highway, you will regrettfully pay for a tow bill? But you do not want a $10,000 tow bill that can occur under "free market conditions"?

It will have to be artificially created, and you can easily convert salt caverns to hold algae lakes? Pumps could theoretically pump algae through sunlight chambers and CO2 induction chambers in a "night day cycle"?

The ideal solution however would be for consumers to be able to maintain and grow their own fuels, in order to save the costs associated with transporting fuel all over the country, and to avoid price and market commodity trading practices that are hostile to the consumer and causing harm to the economy?

If consumers cannot grow their own fuels, then market regulations may require that price caps be put in place, no matter what fuel is used?

The amount from Michael Briggs University of New Hampshire was 15,000 square miles listed on paragraph 11

The amount in the article should have listed the amount as 15,000 square miles

If you want more information on biodiesel go to msn.com in the search put, Biodiesel from Algie and go to the resent study done by Michael Briggs from the University of New Hampshire, Physics Dept. It has all the information you will need to know about Biodiesel from Algie and more. There is also a company called Petrosun that has already began pond for the production of the Algie and they have found a way of harvesting the Algie without contaminating the Algie pond. This is a world of information on this subject…

I think still there are some challenges with this technology:

1) Output contains only 10% usable biomass rest is water. - Cost of water separation.
2) Drying the biomass
3) % oil content in Algae.
4) Continuous Availability of Sunlight and CO2

At this stage I still feel, the technology needs to reduce cost to make it commercially viable

The process has already started by petrosun and other companies and all studies show that the oil %'s are as high as 40% in some algie and that is still 20 to 30 percent more then what we are getting out of other bio substances. Sun light issues are all about location, I would believe that would be the last of thier problems after a location has been picked like texas or near by states. This seems to be the fuel of the future and we don't have to have OPEC and large companies like exxon or others choking us.
We should as a country be moving on this with great speed…

Has anybody ever given a thought to scotch broom? Here is a plant that will grow anywhere because it fixes its own nitrogen being a legume although inedible. It is an incredible producer of seed which causes it to spread wildly. Here in western Canada it is considered a noxious alien weed. It grows in gravel pits and places where the top soil has been removed. If it wasn't so bitter it would feed the masses. What's the oil content of the seed? Does any body know?
G. S.

It is gratifying to find that someone out there is doing due diligence on my article by locating and reading the UNH report. The number of acres needed to replace the entire transportation needs of the United States is indeed 15K vice 16K. I might point out that the UNH group was very conservative in their feasibility estimates.
My personal concept of mass production would, for security reasons, divide the plants into five hundred acre sites scattered all across the Gulf of Mexico shoreline.
This would minimize hurricane and terrorist threats.

Harvesting the oil from the biomass can be done by centrifuge, compression or you could just throw the dried mass into your stove and burn it for direct heat. On large scale, the only economically feasible approach, Royal Dutch Shell has been reported to be building (Maybe it's already built)a bio diesel plant in Hawaii. The intent being to extract the oil and ship it to Europe. That being said, one must conclude that Shell has already nailed the extraction method.

As for individual home production for personal use, I put together some numbers myself and, using my 2006 Ford Ranger P/U @ 18 mgp, 10,000 miles per year, I would need the UNH estimate based annual production of 2.7 acres of pond to keep my wheels turning. Prices vary around the planet, but here in Central Florida, USA, dirt costs about $50,000USD per acre. That's $135,000 up front just to have a place to build your pond.

I don't want to beat this one to death. Marine algal bio diesel does not seem feasible for small scale fuel needs. On a small scale, I am reminded of the Iowa farmer who powered his tractor on ethanol which he got from converting part of his corn crop thru fermentation. It's relatively easy and the leftover mash makes excellent cattle feed. He is reported to have the happiest livestock in the state!
Another small consumer I read about many years ago was a village in India which used a methane producing reactor to power a converted gasoline electric generator. For feedstock, they used cow dung which was always in plentiful supply…. everywhere. My oldest son wanted to go completely "green", raising organic veggies and using a bio mass methane reactor to fuel his own generator. Asked where he would get the feed stock he replied: "Have you ever considered the amount of usable waste created daily by two adults and four growing children?"
Small, isolated communities around the world would benefit greatly from having self produced electricity. I am afraid that home size energy plants will have to be developed by individual home based entrepreneurs. Go for it!

I like your train of thought. Rattles my aging cage! Some thoughts of my own.
1. High yielding marine algae species used in the UNH study were sent to the University of Hawaii for permanent storage. Apparently, Royal Dutch Shell likes that location as they are building a BD plant there.
2. Marine algal sourced BD is NOT economically feasible due to the need to provide sealed photo reactors at a cost cheaper than petroleum refineries. However, remember that "If we can put a man on the moon, we can do anything!"
3. Salt caverns? Fascinating! where would one get the energy to heat them? (Apparently, studies have shown that our pet algae consume energy on cold nights to maintain their own viability. If my memory serves me right, one of the prime features of the Kansas caverns is their constant low temperature?

At this point, I have no realistic answers… just more questions. Bummer! Still, there are some latent techie nerds out there. I can smell them here on this blog. I hope someone is actively trying to meld all this thinking into realistic solutions. Go for it, neighbors! Go for it.

Sam,
Your point is valid but only if there was a shortage of algae. I doubt there is a single pond owner that would object to your cleaning their pond for them.

Folks check out the Mcgyan process videos and tell me your thoughts.

http://www.sartec.com/mcgyan.html

Why does everyone think we need to dry the algae? What would happen if the algae was forced through a screen small enough to seperate the oil using water pressure???

I hope Sartec starts with recycling their own schools WVO and fuels their busses with it.

Let's take a look at a practical and integrated approach.

The NREL and UNH reports are good sources of information. Additioanl downside factors are viscosity (stated in the reports), fuel contamination and shelf life. These can be overcome technically through additives and distribution factors such as sourcing production near users.

Algal biodiesel should be considered as one slice of the solution pie and combined with high cost emission mitigation processes necessary to make the traditional fossil fuel engergy conversion methods more environmentally sound. Several examples of algae reactors being used at coal fired power stations to capture CO2/NOx/SOx are in development. These applications would reduce greenhouse gases at competitive costs to sequestering and SCR removal. Combined with Biodiesel production the costs may be more competitive. Additionally the waste heat produced at a power station could be channeled to make the reactors more efficient. Co-location at power plants also has a minor but measurable advantage of reducing transmission losses for the power used in the production process. Keep in mind that excess stocks of product could be co-fired in the boilers of these power plants.

We haven't spoke much yet about genetic engineering of the specific algae strains. This as mentioned earlier is a follow-on inductry generating aspect that is not immediately necessary, but presents future growth and competitive grist for the industrial mill. In short there are ways to drive competitiion through efficiency improvements creating a competitive and long lived industrial growth model.

When considering a solution path for national security, the environment, and the economy it may be advantageous to look at a more integrated and wholistic integration of serval technologies and needs. Seems like producing Bio-diesel while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and processing waste products may have a combined net positive energy and economic effect.

G Schmidt is right…………..Before you go overboard on algae (Like the government has on corn) You need to seriously look at scotch broom !!!!! the Fluorocarbon content is so hi in scotch broom it burns green….. throwing it on a brush fire is literally like adding Gasoline…….. And it grows were nothing else will….. Or is that just to obvious???…. I guess it is not challenging enough…

If all you bloggers are so smart, why are no government, of any country listening to you.
File a patent, do something, not just talk as old women,"old saying".

I am a chemist, well known in the industry, and it is not as easy as you think to get all the approvals,
and the manufacturing rights.

It is really easy to drill, clean and refine, and then sell.Period

Hey, I'm struggling to just hang on to any ray of hope. I'm just barely hanging in there with my small southern california trucking business. Petro-diesel prices are killing my will to stay in business. And I'm slowly loosing hope, of finding an honest affordable supplier of bio-oil.

Yes, algae is the only way to make save our economy without running a serious risk of a "transportation induced" famine by using food crops to make more profitable biofuels. Or, generating mass quantities of REALLY bad pollution (some of the aldehyde group) by moving to ethanol instead of biodiesel.

Besides, I know how to grow and process into biofuels aprox. 2,500 tons of algae per day on 800 acres anywhere between the 40th parallel north and south of the equator. As latitude increases, production drops off rapidly above 40 deg. latitude because of the seriously abbreviated photoperiod during the winter months. If you've got the funding, I have the technologies. I've been working on this exact issue for the past 8 years.

Here in south Alabama we are already doing research on algae for fuel. The Marine lab on Dalhpin Island and Earch Clean Technologies have come up with a viable family of algae and a way to economily produce it. The only problem that I am seeing in bio diesel production is the influx of big money. These people, shell oil for example that recently got all the prof's at Alburn Univ. to sell out to them for big bucks and now will not talk to anyone about what they are going to do. Sure everyone has the right to make what they can, when they can, but does anyone anymore really think of there fellow man? I sure am not seeing it here, its money, money , money and thats it. Shame on all of them. People can line there own pockets at the same time as they can share information critical to producing oil, there really is enough to go around. The oil produced from the sonification of algae works, it works real good. The use of animal wastes as well as human wastes makes it even better. They algae the has been studied and found to be best suited for oil production, when fed nitrogen, via chicken manure, doubles its mass every fourty minutes…think about it, it will work if we just stop the greed!!!!!!! Jim, ps, yes I produce bio diesel from waste cooking oil now, its getting real had to come by because of the money people gathering it up….

I hear you loud and clear. I drive shuttle for Orlando Airport supporting three counties. I hear a lot of chatter from my passengers about the high price of fuel (Gasoline) but very little about what to do about it.

Some of my passengers, feeling, I guess, that as a professional driver, I ought to know something they don't, have asked me for my opinion. So, I tell them about all the chatter we are sharing here and my own research relating to the UNH report.

Interesting enough, several of my passengers have husbands who drive professionally or are in contracting using diesel trucks and they have shared with me their husband's approach and F150 (or larger) Ford diesel P/U.

Briefly, what they have done is set up some fifty gallon drums in their garages and converted them into filters and holding tanks with a small 120 volt pump attached.
After regular work they make the rounds of several cooperating restaurants and gather their used cooking oil. I was not told what they paid, if anything at all.

The common feeling I got from these conversations, was that their hubbies were very well satisfied with the performance of used cooking oil (Think Mazola!).

While this approach will not provide enough fuel to satisfy all you OTR houn dawgs, it can take some of the pressure off some of you.

Anticipating the unasked question: Yes, I do have a class A CDL and I have used it. However, my wife's medical conditions require me to be home every night.

Finally, good buddy, the jerk that told you that trucking was going to be easy is not a friend.

Good luck. Sam I Am

Roger…

Thanks for the link. It will be next on my list of 2du.

Sam

I've been working on geting big money for 6 months. I'm about to begin the final steps to procure the funding (multiple tens of millions & more) from multiple sources. Does anybody in cyberspace who understands the realities of what we're all trying to do want to do some business? Let me know. msnyder2@earthlink.net

Sam,
You are welcome I think you will find the videos on youtube very interesting.

Search SARTEC or Mcgyan on youtube for the news interview with student that is being credited with this discovery. For you normal biodieselers, even if you are not interested in Algae you may find it interesting to know this is a contiuous system with a claimed massive reduction in time from normal methods.

Matt,
That is a little bit of a weird way of recruiting. Good luck with the Millions I hope you make a huge impact.

Guys

Just joining the debate. This is all very interesting and something I have been looking at from time to time when I can get on line with my slow dial up. Diesel is nearly $10 per gallon here in the UK, so you think you have it bad in the US!

For a country like the UK where the weather is changeable and land is at a premium, some form of enclosed solar/heat pump system would probably be a way forward with algae production (biodiesel from plants being a non starter in my humble opinion), pushing the algae heavy solution around clear tubing in a continuous cycle, introducing oxygen on the way, until it gets to saturation point where the algae/water is separated (by centrifuge?)and the oil extracted.

Obviously this is very simplistic and I am no bio-engineer, however I do have some experience in marine engineering and forestry (don't ask!) so my mind is sort of working in that direction.

The debate is indeed worth taking part in.

Well, if you are spending over $4000 a year on fuel, it is worth studying the issue to see if you can talk to a bank to get financing to grow your own fuel, even if it is 6 months worth of fuel over a year.

A European company is using transparent tubing (7"?) laying on top of a floor converted as a grow light (like a disco dance floor (Disco Duck to the Rescue!)). One would assume that CO2 is pumped through the tubing along with nutrients like an aquarium tank. The mature algae would simply be pushed out with high pressure? A drift?

With fiber optic technology you could do away with expensive transparent tubing (and the cleaning required), even to the point of using underground salt caverans (instead of storing oil, grow algae). Yes, I have a patent pending on that process. But what if I don't want to pay X amount per foot for the fiber optics, and want to make my own?

The patent system can pretty much tie your hands? Even with my patent, I will depend on hundreds of other people to make the idea work. Motorcycles are expensive, yet somehow they remind me of a lawnmower engine attached to lawn chair tubing (yes I am being sarcastic)?

The financial system is a pretty big experiment, and when it is not based on resources, do people wonder how things will turn out? There will be a lot of competition from wind and solar energy. It will boil down to what is economically better, either growing bio-fuels or mass producing power cells to store electrical energy from wind, solar and geo-thermal (including nuclear)?

I know algae can become the feedstock of the future. I do not have the technology to make it available today. For that reason I am starting with coconut oil this year and hope my business improves dramatically (profit wise)in 5 or 7 years when somebody comes up with a commercial solution to produce biodiesel from algae.

I am keeping an open eye on the likes of Green Star, Solazime, Valcent, Bioking, etc.

Here at SCIPIO Biofuels, ponds are passe. "Open air" is considered bad form, and the green glop that's overflowing from the Farmer's fields (potentially, your fields) isn't The Blob. The technology is here. I know. I've been dancing with this walrus since 2001. The sheer volume of high-end thought (a heap of it, not mine) that has gone into the analysis and design directed specifically at the control and manipulation of the physical dynamics almost all algaes use to procreate.
If you've ever seen the Disney film, Fantasia, there are many much more colorful, accurate and equally descriptive metaphors for the efforts and expenses put into the design and prototyping of a system to grow any species of algae that is truly scalable, quasi-sealed system specifically designed to maximize solar efficiency to roughly 150% as compared to sunlight falling on a pond with a depth to solar opacity of 12". The fact is that we are a "new" company. All that, and a million happy coincidences (Ok, Divine interventions) later, and yours would be SCIPIO Biofuels pilot plant (by request) number 3. There are possibilities literally everywhere. Send me an email, we'll talk.

Roger,

I've been asked once in each of the past two days to build pilot plants in Texas and Virginia. The Virgin Green Fund has had our requested system proposal for two months. At this point, the longer they take to tell me yes, means the bigger I'm hoping the yes gets. The big deal is pumping & harvesting. Our pumps don't scar the algae culture which eventually causes algae production to drop to near zero. Our harvester is a continuous type, size selective gizmo that (in theory) can do it all on less than 750 watts of power. If you would like to come to the SCIPIO Biofuels family, let's see what you can bring to the party. Hit me with an email if if if if if etc.

Matt

Bill,

I can't promise miracles or anything huge either for free or overnight. But, ethics are hammered on hard at SCIPIO Biofuels. Let's talk. If there's any way we can be helpful with your energy concerns, we've designed a system specifically with people like you in mind.

Matt
msnyder2@earthlink.net

Just found this forum and I have some questions.

Where can I find more info about BioDiesel from algae?

How do you process the algae?
How do you grow it correctly?
What does a 'Starter Kit' look like?
Is seaweed algae? What is it's potential for BioFuel?

Thanks for your time.

Scotch Broom is not as exciting as algae simply because algae is a simple organism that multiplies rapidly, and can be easily, and artificially grown. The problem is mass production, not theory.

The problem may be turning off some of the nightly entertainment shows, and start watching C-SPan. There is as much oil under Los Angelas, CA as there is in Saudi Arabia. There are even better places to get oil, and we need to throw the traitors out of Congress who are aiding and abetting Arabs who have declared a financial war on the United States.

You can grow algae artificially, and if the container you are growing it in becomes "solid" you can use a sonic cleaning methods in combination with pressure and rapid cooling to expel product.

I can't publish proprietary information on the net. Try me at this email, matt@scipiobiofuels.com .

Steve,

My system does not require arable land. Nor does it require fertilizers theat have the potential for competing with food crops. I've gone COMPLETELY outside the nornal streams of both food and fuel commerce so as to no affect anyone with SCIPIO's production of biofuels. How about your Scotch Broom?

Steve,

If clogging does become a problem, you're absolutely correct. But with max concentrations of under .5 grams per liter this should not be a problem. You sound like you want to invest in SCIPIO Biofuels. Take a look http://www.scipiobiofuels.com .The site is still under construction but the 1st and 2nd generation systems design work is already complete. Peace out!

Who are we? We're the people who were thinking about this long before it was cool. We have the technology, the patents and now all we need is the financing to begin the transformation of the American and Global economies to both biofuels AND petrochemical fuels combined. This would ease the ecomonic lives of millions of people all over the world and show all that the change-over to a greener future had begun in earnest. Who's with us?

WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF TRYING SCOTCHBROOM
JIM

As of today, we've found two investors. A private party, and a private environmental fund. We're seeking to "spread it around", as it were. Through de-centralization and using as many local people and supplies as possible for the construction and running of a given facility, everybody wins!

Anyone interested in purchasing a SCIPIO Biofuels franchise, need only drop an email.

-M

If you are serious about biofuels, here's a few links you should look at.

http://energy.psyrk.us/press/
http://waterislife.psyrk.us

Matt, good luck with your funding, but if you want to be taken seriously, you need to get your scipiobiofuels.com website into working condition, and be willing to tell us more than "we're working on finding big money".

We've talked with most of the companies mentioned thus far in this discussion (above), and one or two of the people who have posted to this thread, too. We strongly agree with the ideal of eliminating the basic transportation costs of fuels. We want to produce fuels wherever there is a sewage treatment plant and an airport. We also have an algae culitvation apparatus that produces 6-8 times as much algae per square meter as any other system we have seen with the possible exception of Valcent/Vertigro (ours is pat. pend.)
We are discussing a pilot program for our algae apparatus at a couple of universities for start this fall.
We are also looking for money, business alliances and joint ventures. There is plenty of money out there eager to get involved, if you have a worthy process, product or plan.
(we require a mutual non-disclosure agreement before we release any information about our propietary processes, but a lot of what we do is described in some detail at the URLs listed in this post).

Love and warm wishes to all,

Sincerely,
Stafford "Doc" Williamson
president [at] winfotech.com

"Doc"
Thanks for posting the information. I really like the video from Green Star Products. Like most stuff, everything is pretty vague. I understand the need to protect your lively hood and look forward to the day you can release details of your cultivation process.

Ultimiately a system will no kidding clean up the lake and produce useable oil that can be processed into biodiesel. Especially at a level that will generate small buisness's or even an affordable processor that allows an individual to make their own fuel rather than additional monopolies.

WE SHOULD KNOW BY MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK WE GROUND UP THE PLANT INTO VERY FINE PARTICLE SIZE AND IT IS BEING TESTED NOW
JIM

Hi "Doc" -

"If you want to be taken seriously…." How many times have I heard that specific phrase glibly jump from the mouths of those who feel it necessary to glorify themselves by de-valuing others and/or their efforts? Are you a real Physician or PhD? Or did you award the nickname "Doc" to yourself? Allow me to assure you "Doc" that we at SCIPIO Biofuels have been a little busy finalizing our Patent Application(s), designing required specialized equipment, and discussing with several committed investors how best to do what we are about to do. I can't really be tossing around proprietary information about our PBR's, Harvesters, or Processes as that wouldn't be appropriate at this time. Our investors have asked for discretion until such time that their marketing people can be made ready. I've got about 9 angles on the emerging biofuels industry because I've been improving my PBR, harvester and facility designs for the past 8 years. Another 16 months or less (OK a lot less) is all we are going to need to begin in earnest the revitalization of the economies of the western world, and step into the ring with global warming for round 1.

Marine algae is a good source to go into mass production. But here too at some times you have problems in production due to viruses and bacteria and they may suddenly collapse,(algael crash). Again it depends upon the algael strain, and if it is a native strain of that country in which we are culturing, then I think there would be not a big problem for the biosecurity of that region.

My opinion is that is the best source for biodiesel.

Algae: The New Oil

Collaboration is the motivating force of the National Algae Association of The Woodlands, Texas. Algae oil production companies, researchers and the investment community are coming together to find solutions for the oil crisis. Leading-edge technologies are discussed in the commercialization of algae oil and biomass. Interest in algae-to-biofuel is coming in from all over the United States and the world.

We need to bring “energy security” back to the US and reduce our dependency on foreign oil immediately. Current high oil prices, the collapse of food-for-fuel initiatives and concerns about increased levels of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere have all created awareness of the need for alternative fuel solutions. Collaboration, commercialization and acceleration are key to the fast growing secondary algae-to-biofuel industry.

Algae has emerged as one of the lowest cost feedstocks for the biofuels and cellulosic industries. It is considered to be a promising source of renewable oil which can be processed and refined into a variety of transportation fuels. Recent breakthroughs in raceway pond development and closed end loop systems put algae oil production companies on the leading-edge of the renewable oil industry.

Algae can be refined to make biofuel, jet fuel, bio-gasoline and cellulosic materials such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, bioplastics and green packaging.

For additional information contact:

http://www.nationalalgaeassociation.com

Do you think that the closed system being developed are the best solution for algaic stuff? Water in - cleaned - specific strains added - centrifuged out (after growing) - squeezed - out comes jet fuel/biodiesel - recycle water, and voila! Aren't there some companies already doing this?

Closed end loop systems that are being developed will be the best solution for large scale algae production. Raceway ponds are limited in the amount of algae that can be grown and there are contamination problems. With a closed loop system, you have more control. Some of the members of the National Algae Association are raising money to build large scale closed end loop photobioreactors on hundreds of acres. These are not prototypes, they are "full scale" lines.

Matt Snyder, I would like to talk to you about your technologies. I believe that funding will be simple if the technologies are their. Give me a jingle at314-680-6700 or E-mail me at the above E-mail.

Barry

Forgot to mention that PetroSun is indeed in the algae business, see their site here: http://www.petrosuninc.com/algae-biofuels.html - their site is not particularly informative and the aerial shot shows that most of their ponds appear to be dry. Googling gets you more info. Apparently they send (or will send) their squeezings to other processors as feedstock. You can Google-map Rio Hondo, Texas and find the site by following the River Hondo eastwards. They're a penny stock PSUD (disclosure: I do hold some stock).

cheers all,

xpat

fixing our fuel problem could be simple if #1 the federal government?.bring it back to a state level and each state specializes in production of certian crops and most have a large surplus of thear product.the answer would be to build smaller processind plants for that particular state and regulate the cost verse profit on a equal scale.the end results would be no fuel shortages. and inflated fuel prices.and that would result in lower prices on everythind.

Barry,

What above email address? I looked. That doesn't mean it isn't there. It means I may be suffering from "Ocular A.D.D." today. We're working like gangbusters to move things forward. I hope to hear from you soon.

-M

The National Algae Association announces its Algae Commercialization Business Roundtable, Research, and Networking Forum. Existing algae oil production companies, algae researchers and algaeprenuers will present leading-edge technologies for commercialization of Algae: The New Biofuel on October 23-24, 2008, at The Woodlands Conference Center and Resort in The Woodlands, Texas. The NAA brings companies and researchers together to share ideas and exchange information to overcome technological hurdles to fast track commercialization of the algae oil industry.

Current high oil prices, the collapse of food-for-fuel initiatives and concerns about increased levels of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere have all created awareness of the need for alternative fuel solutions. Algae has emerged as one of the lowest cost feedstocks for the biofuels and cellulosic industries. Algae is considered to be a promising source of renewable oil which can be processed and refined into a variety of transportation fuels.

Recent breakthroughs in pond development and closed end loop systems put algae oil production companies on the leading-edge of the renewable oil industry.

When: October 23-24, 2008

Where: The Woodlands Conference Center and Resort

The Woodlands, Texas

Website: http://www.nationalalgaeassociation.com

[...] following was left as a comment in the algae biodiesel discussion by Sam Haynes. I felt it too interesting to be left buried deep in that other post, so here it is. [...]

With the change in both regime and paradigm, algae based biofuels are on their way to a store near you sometime in 2009 or 2010 from SCIPIO Biofuels Inc.

biodiesel from microalgae is not economically now.

Dear Sir
Hello
I am managing director of a company called ‘Mehr Pakhsh.
We are planning to produce Bio diesel , using alga oil. Nice to know that until now there has been no one working on alga production in an industrial way and oil extraction of that in IRAN.
I have visited your web site and have some questions
1- if you have any interest to have a representative in IRAN?
2- if yes, under which situation?
It will be great if you will answer as soon as possible.

Best regards

Roohollah Khani

Maybe you should send an email to me through the company website.

http://www.scipiobiofuels.com

Thanks,

Matt

Greetings, Fellow Travelers

It's been a while since I last dropped a note. I have a very ill wife to care for and I am sure you will understand my silence.

Much of what I have read posted here since I last wrote has made interesting reading and I am encouraged to see some active developers actually looking for some seed money. Friends, let me give you a heads up about soliciting.

1. Don't be offended when someone asks you for actual information about your process (I stopped reading when Scipio started whining about their patent application efforts.) Serious money lenders want to know hard facts and rightly so; after all, it's their money, their risk, doncha know? There is a universally acceptable resolution for the fears of the inventor and the fears of the lender.
It's called the mutual non disclosure agreement. Any lawyer can draw one up at minimal cost. Try it. You'll like it!

2 I have designed a closed loop photo reactor that is cheap to build, highly productive and easy ot maintain. It is also scalable.

I have neither time nor capital to develop the system on even a minimal pilot installation. I believe I have a design that any back yard mechanic can build, start up and operate to profitability. I am willing to disclose my design to any one who is willing to provide a binding non disclosure agreement with the understanding that this is intended to be only a disclosure of the technology and not a conveyance nor a license to build and/or operate..

I believe this is one viable way to get my technology out there where innovative developers and entrepreneusrs can evaluate it for their own needs.Yes, I will expect to be compensated for licensing. I am not going to try to get rich quick; I have only a few more years left, but I will be open to any reasonable innovative compensation plan that will help you get started..This offer is open to all responders till February 28, 2009. Did I suggeest you get a lawyer, too?

Bon Chance, Sam

shpathfinder@gmail.com

Sam, it's good to have you back!

Sam, I'm glad you've returned and hope all is as well as it can be with Mrs. Sam. I can relate. I myself spent almost the entirety of 2007 in hospitals and doctors offices due to septicemia with MRSA and the complications that were part of the deal. Again, I'm glad the two of you are together at Christmas and you're able to contribute again.

I have made some observations based solely upon what I've read in this particular blog and feel it only fair that I share them with you and ask for an accuracy check because I believe that everyone has much more inside them they want to contribute than time and a mere keyboard will allow. In my opinion, often the best people to solve a problem are people with no experience in the field and specialized education. I've been exactly that guy many times.

1. Whining? Why do you insult me and my company? Maybe you should re-read the posting. I don't get insulted when people ask me for information. In fact, I feel honored whenever other people feel I can be helpful to them and try my best to be helpful to everyone who asks. But, I'm not a moron. I'm not going to give a way the farm. If the helper helps too much, he becomes the one in need of help. Been there, done that, no thank you. There will be NO whiners at SCIPIO Biofuels.

2. SCIPIO Biofuels has the ONLY continuous, size selective microalgae harvester anywhere. Are we supposed to foolishly publish this kind of extremely valuable proprietary information for your amusement? If you spent several years of your life and thousands of dollars out of a rather meager personal income to determine and develop the design dynamics into 4 completely different models of any given device, would you tell anyone anything at all knowing your competition (who don't have ANY of the needed device) knows how to read these blogs too? I've said it many time, I'm not a businessman. I do R&D. I invent stuff for a living. But, we ALL know this is why the Non-Disclosure Agreement was invented. The funny part is that I've had many requests to sign the NDA so that person or group could then go out and publish MY company's secrets so they could troll for funding "on my behalf". I may have fallen off the turnip truck. But, it wasn't TODAY'S turnip truck.

3. I am interested in your PBR design and I haven't even seen it. I'm interested in being helpful by analyzing the design and recommending any improvements my years of experience in R&D might see. I feel that helping on an individual basis is where I can do the most good. I've seen several PBR designs come to and go from the marketplace. Why each of these companies PBR's failed to produce was to me for lack of a better word, obvious. If you would be agreeable, I would like to see what you have and see if it can be tweaked to generate the biomass needed. No strings attached. If it can be, I know you'll be alone in your market. Way cool!

Matt

According to the DOE we are looking at a $66 billion dollar industry. The best you can get is a process patent on any PBR. No time for ego's. Any PBR built today will be different years a few years from now. My suggestion is to stay focused on first building an algae production system with off-the-existing technology and start producing algae oil and biomass now. Advances in technology will take care of itself.

I couldn't agree with you more.

How would your estimates be affected if plug-in hybrid diesels were substituted for full powered diesels engines? If small displacement biodiesel engines used as generators to power electric powered vehicles, wouldn't the amount of biodiesel required for the nation be reduced significantly?

Quite possibly, Bill. Remember that no energy conversion is 100% efficient and that the fewer conversions there are, the more possible energy waste that can be eliminated. Keep in mind that Volkswagon made a diesel powered Rabbit in the 1980's that got over 50MPG. The car was so efficient, (thus popular) that sales in California were banned after the first couple of years of production. Is it worth spending triple the energy and resources to make a car that is a miniscule more efficient than 25 year old technology? Just because something has been done before, doesn't mean it wasn't ahead of it's time in the past, and the time is now.

Correct, Matt. Using a bio-diesel generator in an electric car loses 64% efficiency, compared to a plug-in electric car. The figure is based on an auxiliary diesel engine efficiency of 40% and an on-board generator efficiency of 90%, both being somewhat variable by make, model and running conditions.

Fine if the bio-diesel comes from your back yard but there's still the car's additional manufacturing cost to consider (extra capital cost to the buyer).

However, the pure plug-in car just moves the generation efficiency elsewhere (a popular political philosophy these days) - when you plug 'er in, some nasty coal is burned somewhere up north releasing crud into the atmosphere, killing a few more trees to the east, and applying some more heating to both the said atmosphere and the local river. It's a wonderful life (not)!

T.C.

Sounds discouraging but when you consider the elsewhere can be hydro, nuclear, solar or wind power the alternative to the status quo is not so grim. The present system places our energy supplies in the control of people who's interest aren't benevolent to ours. And when you consider the efficiency of gasoline engines (which aren't much more efficient than 46%) moving to a sustainable energy fuel as soon as possible makes sense.
Bill

Aloha,
We have a vast amount of invasive algae around the island of oahu, and I am currently looking for a place to dispose of it, any idead on how we can motivate the public to get rid of it?
Mahalo
Kris

@Bil: You're right of course. The gloom-and-doom was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but still, isn't today's electricity about 60% coal-fired?

T.C.

Algae is a source of biomass that can produce many types of biofuels, including biodiesel, ethanol, biocrude, jet fuel, and renewable diesel. Algae is a renewable fuel feedstock, does not affect the food channel and consumes C02. The byproduct biomass is used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, bio-plastics, and organic fertilizer.

To learn more about the commercialization of the algae industry, you may want to check out this website:
http://www.nationalalgaeassociation.com

Yes, but that is why it is so important to tackle the problem from a multifaceted approach. Biodiesel, Nuclear, Wind, Solar, Hydro, and Geothermal. The technology exists, it just to find a market, and be refined. I would be much more skeptic if the technology was only theoretical, but all of these technologies exist today. What is needed is a push; hopefully the new president and congress will provide the leadership for that push.
Bill

If they don't, we ALL die a slow agonizing death. We're all in this together by ourselves, unfortunately.

A solution to one of your indicated questions might be: pre dry the bio masses and form them to briquets. Then let dry and burn for heating

Home size energy plants: any plans for do-it-yourself plants?

its a good idea i dont see it happening in the near future

so, what we have here is a recurring theme of home production, i.e., back to the pioneer days of unlimited acreage (whatevewr you could steal from the injuns) and making everything you needed, EVERYTHING, in your back yard.

In a previous post I did some number crunching based upon my own situation and resources. Here is, as best I remember, sort of how it went. Use your own numbers and see what you get. But before you begine, boot the UNH BIO DIESEL REPORT and jot down the most conservative, worst case credible info you are liable to get.

1. My 2006 six cylinder Ranger gets a consistent 18 MPG.

2. My average annual miles run holds close to 10,000 miles.

3. That works out to an annual fuel requirement of: 10 000 / 18 = 555.55 gallons
fuel. Gasoline. A diesel engine would be different, but for our purposes, the
differences wonn't matter.

4. I don't recall what the UNH scientists biodiesel yield actually was calculated
to be but 1500 gallons of prime biodiesel per acre per year year is close .

5. So it would appear that half an acre of pond could produce a minimum annual gallonage for my pickup. That's just for the pond.

6. next, you would need another half acre (Guestimate) for the harvesting, separation and filtering equipment. Storage is another acreage requirement.

7. I almost forgot the house and parking lot. Another half acre? Do you see where this is leading? Here in Central Florida, acreage available runs about 50K/acre, and building restrictions are tight..

From where I sit it would seem more feasible to buy commercially produced bio diesel and spend your capital on solar panels and wind power.

Change is coming. I am a Centrist Republican but I have hopes that the American little guy will pull his head out of that dark place and start chosing congressmen who will work for us'ns instead of the power hungry, self serving incompetents we have now… and I include both parties in that indictment. So, there!

Keep the faith, neighbors.

Sam: Pathfinders 2008

Sam,
I agree with your numbers except the need for 1500 gallons biodiesel to equal 555.55 gallons of needed gas. The BTU produced from biodiesel is higher than gasoline so there should be less requirement of refined biodiesel needed. If you change vehicles to a car that burns 25 miles/gallon gas, the yearly requirement would be 400 gallons. The alegae productivity was reported at around 80% effeciency so that the required fuel needed for the higher fuel effeciency vehicle would be 500 gallons (separation by density would most likely be the only equipment necessary as the biodiesel would have a different density than the rest of the waste products produced by the algae). If you 1500 gallons per acre is correct you would have enough fuel to power 3 vehicles with one acre pond. I agree that you can make the figure even smaller using wind and solar to power recharge plug-in hybrid vehicles using small biodiesel generators. It is feasible if we can get the automakers, government, and people on the same tract. One other thought, if we can commercialize the production of the algae in an artificial envionrment stacked in a man-made building then the productivity could be condensed to even a smaller land mass than what is proposed. If my assumptions or math are wrong would love to hear differently. Bill

Dear Matt, Sam, b cole, Doc Williamson, and others:
I found your discussions very informative and I intend to check out all the different sites that have been mentioned. I am a Chemical Engineer with an interest in Biodiesel production on a commercial scale. I would like to think that algae oil production on a commercial scale is technologically feasible currently. My research suggests that a start point would be to use plant oils such as Jatropha or Karanja to get the infrastructure off the ground while continuing to develope algae farms (Closed Loop for sure). My research has also shown me that open ponds are not viable because of contamination issues.
The big question is: What is the best strain of algae to use and is the latitude location (of the algae farm) going to influence your choice of strain?
I do believe that algae is eventually going to solve the feedstock supply problem. Biodiesel alone will not be the total answer, but combined with other Green technologies, we may actually succeed in preventing the loss of 90% of the world's coastlines in the 22nd century. By the way, guess where most of the world's biggest cities are located!

DAMIT!

I just can't resist blowing my horn again. So, here I go again…

I like to analyze things on a 'what if' level; scoping, if you will.

Supose, instead of getting hit by a falling Soyuz sattelite (a much more likely event), just supose I bought the winning Florida Lottery ticket. The two big ones total about $90,000,000. That's enough to get started on, doncha think?

First purchase after my 'go crazy' fling would be a couple hundred acres of central Oklahoma. Lots of wind there according to my oldest son who works there.
We have four grand children there who we haven't seen in years.

I would build a small ranchette of about ten acres just to accomodate my phantom company 'PATHFINDERS 2008, R&D. Gotta have a place to do all the design and so on.

Once the residence was ready, I would move my invalid wife and our mutt in and assemble a design staff who would design a starter wind farm. This would supply energy at a significant level in excess of residential and infrastructure needs.

Excess energy would be sold back into the power grid. Once that event was moving along, I would switch gears to the gulf region, buy a few hundred acres of swamp or other cheap real estate, build a road into it and proceed to build a medium sized (200 acres) marine algae biodiesel closed loop reactor system. If the sustained winds would allow, I would also install wind powered generators to fuel the closed loop reactors.

My next venture, assuming I'm still alive and able to feed myself in twenty years, would be to lobby for a pilot geothermal plant in Yellostone Caldera. You don't think the environmentalists would let me drill into Yellostone? Maybe not… probably not, but I bet they would give me a green light to bore a hole in the middle of the New Mexico lava fields.

When I get that all done, they can unhook me from my life support system.

This my fantasy. What is yours?

Before I go, let me tell you about my other two fantasies; My Frog Farm Lab and my Honey Bee Hive Lab. In these labs, my scientists will find a cure for the disease which is rapidly bringing the worlds frog population to the edge of extinction. Ditto for the world's honey bee population.

We need, desparately need, to understand just how closely we humans are linked to the daily and yearly activities of all of God's little critters.

That's all I got to say about that! (Forest Gump)

Sam…………..

so this means the normal fresh water farm will probally not be a usable source unless its tested for bad algea.

We have spent over $2.2 billion dollars on algae research for the last 35 years and nothing to show for it. Algae has been researched to death at universities for the last 50 years in the US. The problem is as long as the algae researchers can say we are 3-5 years away, its too expensive and they need more research they get the grant money. Nothing will ever get commercialized at the university level.

The question you need to be asking is " Does the US really want to get off of foreign oil or do we want to continue to fund the algae researchers at the universities."

We need monies going into algae oil production and stop wasting money on research. Algae researchers are incapable of commercializing anything!

There is one response to '16000' etc…

Start with the UNH estimate of approximately 1500 plus or minus gallons per acre and work out the math. If I made a mistake, don't quibble, I won't get mad. Check it out. It's sometimes called 'due diligence.

In my original post some many moons ago my mind set envisioned many smaller ponds… not a 5 x5 mile square.

Security reasons first and a fundamental reality check when buying up enough contiguos acres. BIG open ponds are easy to whack.

My own concept is based on cheap to build closed loop photo reactors breeding algae in a continuos flow. The units come in self contained modules which can be linked up like a giant tapeworm, all under a green house environment. (Many years ago in the ancient 70s I visited such a green house garden filled with luxuriant vegies. It was a bright, humid and warm habitat of about 80 degrees F inside as I recall. What I recall most about that visit was that the ambient temperature OUTSIDE the habitat was just above freezing.)

It is my firm conviction that all that is needed to brew a clean cheap bio diesel is already available in the minds of many, many individuals.

Why am I not building a plant of my own right now? I would like to but lack of money (OH, really?) combined with efforts to produce some by building a Green Haven Nursing Home for my sick wife, plus writing a business plan for investors in such a facility and researching and designing the entire facility berore: A: Before my wife dies B: Before I die.

Best regard, Pilgrims…

Sam

Seems that there is problem with the extraction of algae oil and moisture content of the product prior to extraction. the energy that is needed to dry out the product makes it expensive to produce.
I have been working on the designs for a vertical system, the funding for such projects is not there yet, the key word is yet. Our pilot project can produce 500K worth of bio diesel if we could get the feedstock.
Petro, has reached its peak a few years ago and when the world gets back to work and demand goes through the roof so will the price of fuel world wide. Further, if the dispute between Isrial and Iran is not solved and the two begin a fight, sinking ships in the chanel will trap 45% of the worlds oil in the middle east, the price of a gallon of petro will be so high most will not be able to purchase it.
All the more reason to get the world off conventional fuels and on to something else.

Our prototype PBR with continuous harvesting is virtually ready for testing and academic "certification". All we need to be able to do is pay for it. The feds are only writing checks to the companies which they are accustomed as well as the companies who bought all the federal influence they could afford in the last election. Technology, or the lack of it makes no difference to the feds. The feds also have no idea what technologies they should be saying "yes" to in the first place. The banks are holding all of our TARP funds to fight the coming collapse in commercial real estate prices and the President wants the economy in the tank as this actually does further the undeclared economic war we have engaged in with China.

All we need is a little equity investment funding and our pre-laid plans will take care of the rest. If biofuels are going to the marketplace, that move will be driven by the private sector. The government is broken and there aren't any spare parts. Anybody?

Now that the Gulf is ruined is biofuel more attractive?

That is a subjective question. To whom are you referring? Banks, VC's & Investment Funds? They all want to own something they can't make work themselves, while paying compratively nothing to the actual value. All the while thinking their checkbook is the only one ever created. This selfish attitude needs to change because without that change, some will learn that money is a poor conversationalist, and doesn't promote trust. And you can't take it with you.

Yo! Matt…

Also, Hi to Susan Burns

It would seem from recent events in the Gulf that 'incompetence, greed and lust for power have created their own conditions for termination.

The single minded stampede for more and more power, re-election and all the other invectives has led us to the brink of self destruction.

I am reminded of the mind set of the French Royal Establishment just prior to the arrival of the AXE and a disastrous revolution.

Yes, Susan… There will be change. What we are witnessing is not just a Gulf Disaster but a Global Catastrophe. Humanity will survive but our mindset will be 'readjusted' to accommodate a radical re-evaluation of what is important/necessary to our existence.

To Annonymous… The answer to your understandable lament is also to be found in the Gulf.

Ah, Matt…

I am glad to see you haven't lost faith in your system. I would like to apologize for 'insulting' you some time back. I meant you no harm.

This will probably be my last post. In reviewing the previous list of posts, I feel I have no more significant comments to make. One thing is left. My design concept for a closed loop photo reactor system core.

Here it is for you to take a look, evaluate, accept or reject the concept…whatever you choose. The core concept is not original, I gleaned it from The Mother Earth News Magazine thirty years ago.

The challenge is to get an enclosed pond acreage into as small an area as possible. It is really simple; requiring a curved reflector and a helix of two inch diameter clear plastic tubing wrapped around a cylindrical core.

The algae slurry goes in one end, flows around the helix absorbing light reflected from a curved reflector… not a parabola.

The original design was for a hot water heater, solar driven.

Two inch tubing is chosen from the comments of a pond design researcher in Europe. The idea as I recall it was that sunlight penetration over two inches of slurry was ineffective; hence 2 inch tubing. (Mind, it's the concept, not the engineer derived numbers).

So: How do we get sunlight reflected onto the full 360 degrees of the helix coil? Ready for a little geometry?

Draw a horizontal line.

Place a dot on the line near one end.

Draw a vertical line up from the dot Forms an xy axis.

Draw another dot on the y axis. This second dot represents the axle of a wheel.

The first dot represents the tip of a marker.

Roll the wheel along the line with the marker scribing a curved line.

Keep rolling until the marker touches the horizontal line three times.

This will generate a two lobed curve resembling the McDonald arches.

Assemble an easily handled module, approx. five/six feet of finished helix.

construct a trough reflector of reflective foil, points up.

Lay finished helix assy. in the trough, centered on the middle point of the trough. Construct support sysstem to needs of assy.

Elevate trough to local latitude angle, perpindicular to sun.

If you have trouble visualizing this apparatus, send me an e-mail with a snail mail return address and I will send you some sketches.

My last request is this: If you can put this concept to use for the good of the nation and make a profit; please donate 5% to MRSA research and 5% to Alzheimer's research.

To quote my mentor, Forest Gump…"That's all I got to say 'bout that."

And, as Robert Frost said: "I have promises to keep, And miles to go
Before I Sleep……Miles to go before I sleep."

Sam Haynes, PATHFINDERS 2010 shpathfinder@gmail.com

National Algae Association Launches Innovative Commercial-Scale Algae Production Incubator
SPRING, TEXAS June 29, 2010 Oil & Gas News RSS
(PRLEAP.COM) The National Algae Association is creating a new algae production incubator to help lower the costs and risks associated with the newly emerging algae production industry. It will be the first commercial-scale algae production incubator in the US and will allow algaepreneurs to scale-up on acreage and move the technologies that universities, research labs and the private community have been developing for over 50 years off the shelves and into the market.

NAA’s Engineering Consortium has confirmed that there is a steep learning curve to bring their ideas to market. Algaepreneurs, colleges and universities who are ready to scale-up their technologies and processes for commercial scale-production will have the opportunity to join the new algae production incubator. Acreage, water, research services, lab space, benchmarking and management services will be made available to assist in lowering start-up costs and risk of commercial scale-up issues. Clusters of algae producers will be building commercial-scale equipment, benchmark their systems (i.e., growing, harvesting and extraction methods) and will share research services. For the first time in history, algae researchers will have an opportunity to work with commercial-scale equipment. The NAA also aims to serve algae production start-ups with services linked to investors, lenders, lawyers, accountants and other professionals.

The Algae Incubator Process:

Step 1: Submission of Incubator Preliminary Review Questionnaire, accompanied by a complete business plan and financial projections, to the National Algae Association for review by an advisory board of business leaders and algae researchers to determine viability of the technology and admission into the program.

Step 2: Review of information to determine a suitable match of acreage, water and other services for the algaepreneur. This step includes entry of data into the incubator data base, maintenance and upkeep of which will enable NAA to monitor the progress of each project

Step 3: Once a potential match has been found, data will be forwarded to a proposed host company. If the host company expresses an interest in the company, you will be contacted to set up an appointment and begin negotiations.

Step 4: If negotiations between the algaepreneurs and the host companies are successful, the appropriate documentation is signed, and the new algae start-up incubator company is hatched!

For additional information contact:

National Algae Association
4747 Research Forest Drive, Suite 180
The Woodlands, TX 77381
936-321-1125
info@nationalalgaeassociation.com