User:Deansel

The Answer to the Food Vs. Fuel debate; ALGAE Provides Both

Animals have been eating algae for as long as they have been on the earth. The earliest fish ate algae in the sea. Algae is what gives fish the Omega3 acids and other beneficial characteristics that make fish oil so popular to the Nutraceutical market. There are also brands that have made Omega3 acids straight from the algae. Which is more environmentally sustainable and safer in regards to Mercury content. It is possible for certain types of algae such as Nannochloropsis and Chlorella Vulgaris to have a complete branch chain amino acid profile. These high value products can be extracted from the algae and taken to market. Spirulina is another popular strain of algae that is used as a protein supplement for diets of people who are health conscious. Chlorella Vulgaris has been proven in clinical studies to reduce and in some cases prevent the side effects from chemo therapy. It has also been clinically proven to reduce the risk of getting cancer due to the fact that it is the highest form of chlorophyll known to man.

Now that there are many companies trying to commercialize the production of algae lipid oil for biodiesel production there will be a large influx of algae biomass into the markets. Currently the wholesale price for a Metric Ton of Nannochloropsis for an aqua culture facility is running $18,000MT. This is bound to come down once commercial size algae farms for lipid oil production facilities come on line. Algae biomass can be dried and processed into a powder just like Whey or Soy protein that can be used for protein supplements. It may also be added to different types of foods for protein content and vitamin enrichment. Currently chlorella Vulgaris has a retail value of $36,00MT∗.

The further development of an algae protein market to a very large scale will be the driving force to making algae oil a reality for Biodiesel production. The path is laid down for the road to be built upon and there needs to be more marketing and penetration into existing food sectors. The sports nutrition market is worth over 27 Billion Dollars and has great potential for an algae protein market.

Algae of course, is food for fish, these would be vegetarian fish such as Tilapia. With the increase in fish farms being utilized for human consumption due to environmental effects of over fishing in the seas, the demand for more fish meal will become much greater. Algae also feed the brine shrimp that are fed to other species of farm raised fish that are carnivorous such as Salmon. Regardless algae is in high demand for fish food in the Aqua culture market and provides a great revenue stream for the industry.

The vitamins and minerals in the algae may also be fractionated from the biomass. This application has been done for many years for a wide array of products in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. After the fractionation of the biomass it is mainly cellulosic material and sugars which make a great feedstock in whole, or blended with other feedstocks, for the production of cellulosic ethanol. Cellulosic Ethanol is what the majority of all new ethanol plants will be, this will provide a market for the cell

With the growth in these markets and the high value of the biomass, Algae Lipid Oil can be a reality as a feedstock for Biodiesel production. These are the factors that need to be considered in order to make an algae farm for lipid oil profitable and provide an inexpensive high grade feedstock for biodiesel production.

Algae farm production optimization is a key factor to the profitability of the facility. At the current state of the technology for commercial production of algae using just raceway ponds it is not economically feasible. Raceway ponds are profitable in the nutrition market but not as lipid oil production for biodiesel. They can not make enough highly dense biomass with normal photosynthetic conditions.

Photo Bioreactors are the answer to breaking through the theoretical limits of normal solar photosynthesis for algae biomass production. Studies have shown the ability to raise algae culture densities to 24 grams per liter on a dry weight basis. The production rate in photobioreactors has achieved very high production rates all the way to 242% of the total capacity of the Photobioreactor in a 24 hour period. This was done using artificial light that was of a specific light spectrum that enabled the optimization of the cell reproduction process. Reaching these figures on a commercial scale have yet to be proven, but so was the turbine engine before it was made commercial.

The BioFence Photobioreactor is a highly efficient and reliable method for producing high density monocultures of marine and freshwater algae. The Biofence has been in production in these markets for the last Five years. It has continually outlasted and out performed all other photo bioreactors whether they are thin film plate, heliacal, bag or tubular. There has been much data reported on the production rate of the BioFence and show that a daily yield of 140 g per day in a 200 L BioFence system is easily achievable. This is much higher than a raceway pond or bag type reactor. All parameters of the photosynthetic process; temperature, light(Lumens), nutrients and CO2 were precisely controlled in order to increase the production rates.

This would make the algae farm highly profitable and also give the ability to provide enough extra revenue to cover the expenses of indoor environmentally controlled facility.

A Hybrid system is another option for the mass production of algal biomass. A hybrid would be a system that employees both a raceway pond and PhotoBioreactors. The Photo Bioreactor would provide a continuous supply of very high density monoculture algae for further propagation and lipid oil production. The major advantage to a hybrid system is that it can save a very large amount of the capital expense for the installation.

Culturing Solutions has developed a novel process to extract the oil from the algae. This is done with very low Kw consumption. This process is very GREEN in more ways than one, it utilizes the water that is remaining in the algae slurry as a solvent along with a reactor to rupture the cell walls releasing the lipids. The downstream process further separates the remaining Biomass, algae oil and water. From that point the oil may be dehydrated and is ready for transesterfication.