California-based Laboratory Glass Apparatus Inc,  sells a laboratory scale algae photobioreactor. This 30 l Algae photobioreactor has three ten litre glass tubes each with its own light and temperature controlled environment. Each tube can provide independent envirommental variables for different algae cultures.

For more details see: http://www.mbesinc.com/ad2.html

About the company
Laboratory Glass Apparatus was founded in 1965 to provide custom glass blowing services to chemists, scientists and researchers in the various fields of science. In 1985, they collaborated with UCSF and the US Army to develop our line of diffusion cells for in vitro percutaneous absorption studies. This line is sold under the trade name, Skin Permeation Systems.

Source: http://www.laboratoryglassapparatus.com

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Labels: Algae-Photobioreactor

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Eric Wesoff  writes about algae to ethanol company Algenol under the title "Algenol: The Elephant in the Room" in greentech media

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Arizona Public Service Co. will get $70.5 million in stimulus funds to study cutting greenhouse-gas emissions from coal power plants that contribute to global warming, the Energy Department said Tuesday. APS will use the money for a 60-acre research project at the Cholla Power Plant between Holbrook and Winslow on Interstate 40 in northern Arizona's Navajo County. 

"This project allows us to research some of the issues with using coal and brings economic activity to a part of Arizona where the unemployment rate is about 13 percent," Gotfried said.

The complex research will study cleaner ways to make electricity from coal and how to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide from coal plants that is released into the atmosphere.  APS researchers will use heat and pressure to convert coal to syngas, a fuel that can be used much like natural gas. That process also will create char, which, like coal, can be burned for electricity. 

APS will attempt to capture the carbon-dioxide emissions from burning char to make environmentally friendly liquid fuel.

"The CO{-2} from burning the char will be food for algae," Gotfried said.

APS plans to raise algae in large ponds or tanks, feeding the algae CO{-2} like a fertilizer. Algae contain oils that can be pressed out and converted to biodiesel for vehicles, and some algae also can be made into ethanol.  The utility will test if algae can be grown fast enough to be raised for fuel. 

The $70.5 million grant is part of $1.52 billion in the stimulus act earmarked for research into ways to capture and store carbon from power plants and other industrial facilities such as cement plants.

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Labels: Algae-Energy-Investments

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LiveFuels recently announced a shift in its business plan – moving from algae fuel company to fish aquaculturist/fish oil/biofuel/co-products supplier.

To date, the company has largely discussed raising different species of algae in open ponds to produce fuels. Today, it stated that it will grow algae, but then let filter-feeding fish eat it. It will then capture the fish, squeeze them for oil, and then feed the oil to a refinery.

Having the fish feed on algae clearly will require more algae than would be required if the algae were harvested directly. The company will also have to find ways to optimize the growth of its grazer fish and algae.

But the food-chain business model has other advantages. LiveFuels won't have to build complex bioreactors complete with carbon dioxide bubblers. It also won't have to extract algae from water, an arduous task considering that only a few grams of usable algae are found in every liter of water. The fish will make the oil and sequester it in easily recognizable organs in their bodies. Some other researchers have discussed employing tilapia for this and harvesting fish oil and fish excrement.

"We know a lot more about fish aquaculture than algae farming," said Eric Wesoff with GTM Research, who nonetheless added that the science and economic challenges await.

The company has a test pond in Brownsville, Texas. Algae blooms will be fertilized by pollution streams from the Mississippi. 

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Labels: Algae-Cultivation-Open-Pond, Algae-Energy-Companies, Algae-Meal

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The rise in biodiesel production over the last decade means that the market can no longer absorb all the extra glycerol. Biodiesel producers must find alternative means for disposing of crude glycerol, which is prohibitively expensive to purify for industry use. Wen and his colleagues have developed a novel fermentation process using microalgae to produce omega-3 fatty acids from crude glycerol

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Labels: Algae-Biodiesel, Algae-Cultivation

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Press Release:

Labels: Algae-Energy-Companies

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Sankat Mochan Foundation (SMF) plans to use AIWPS for cleaning the Ganga under the second phase of the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) in Varanasi.

Veer Bhadra Mishra, President of SMF and a member of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) said "The engineering fraternity has a role to play in neutralising the adverse effects on the climate by applying green technologies, phasing out GHG-producing sources and combating the existing effects on climate to save the Earth,"

See more: Times of India

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Labels: Algae-Cultivation-Sewage, Algae-Wastewater-Treatment

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A report recently released by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers suggests that sealed containers of algae photobioreactors could be integrated into the sides of buildings to produce biofuels and sequester carbon, adding a whole new meaning to the term ‘green building’. As the algae grows it sucks up CO2 from the surrounding air which can then be stored.

Currently photobioreactors are much more expensive to use than conventional open-pond systems, but this is why the The Institute of Mechanical Engineers wants more research funding to be pushed toward PBRs. Whereas open pond-style algaculture covers large areas of habitat, PBRs could be incorporated into our existing city infrastructure and provide the filtering and fuel production where we need it most.

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W2 Energy will be using the Pennsylvania coal to show the industry that its technology will make 100% clean fuel plus electricity from the Pennsylvania coal. 

W2 Energy will be gasify the coal in the NT Plasmatron non thermal plasma reactor. In the NT Plasmatron, this high-quality Pennsylvania coal will turn into syngas and will also generate heat. The heat will be turned into electricity via the SteamRay Steam Engine, and the syngas will be turned into jet fuel, gasoline and diesel fuel in the MultiFuel Gas-to-Liquid Reactor. W2 Energy will also be absorbing the greenhouse gases generated by the coal with its SunFilter Algae Reactor plant previously announced on August 13th 2009.

Source: Reuters

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Labels: Algae-CO2-Capture

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According to Gizmag and the American Chemical Society publication, NANOLetters, the researchers have come up with a promising new battery technology.

Scientists,Gustav Nystrom, Aamir Razaq, Maria Strømme†, Leif Nyholm and Albert Mihranyan at Uppsala Universitet in Sweden were looking for a way to turn deadly “blooming” algae found in oceans and seas into batteries.

The departments of Nanotechnology and Functional Materials, Engineering Sciences, and Materials Chemistry at The Ångstrom Laboratory at Uppsala University created a new type of lightweight battery. This battery is composed of taking cellulose fibers from algae and coating them with a 50nm “thin layer of polypyrrole”.

Batteries made this way, have charging capacities of “between 25 and 33 mAh g?1 or 38?50 mAh g?1 per weight of the active material”. These batteries could be charged with currents as high as 600 mA cm?2. They would only lose six percent of their charging capacity after 100 charges. In layman’s terms, these batteries are extremely light and can be charged in “11.3 seconds at 320 mA”.

The algae batteries tested were not optimally packaged and the laboratory is working on that issue now. So far they have created a battery that was capable of taking 1000 charges.

There is much still to be done before these batteries hit the market. But they show promise since they should be easy and inexpensive to mass produce.

Source: Green.Blorge

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Contributed Post:

SAM A. RUSHING
ADVANCED CRYOGENICS, LTD.
P.O. Box 419, Tavernier, FL 33070 USA
Tel 305 852 2597 Fax 2598
rushing@terranova.net
www.carbondioxideconsultants.com

Background

In the world of biofuels, algae is under the spotlight as a major destination of interest for CO2 usage from power and chemical projects, from the perspective as a greenhouse gas / carbon sink. Today, more than ever, methods for viable sequestration alternatives are essential to meet the changing political and environmental tone set by the US House of Representatives and the EPA – and ultimately established as a law. Also of strong interest is the usage of algae as a source of feedstock material for biodiesel, and perhaps fermentation. CO2 is an ingredient used by algae for normal growth, during photosynthesis, and of course, the challenge for a strong reduction of atmospheric CO2 content is one of today's greatest challenges. Algae can be a partial means to an end in this quest for greenhouse gas reduction, and at the same time serving as an essential ingredient required for algae cultivation. The driver in algae based CO2 fixation or sequestration has been CO2 sourcing from coal fired power plants. The coal fired power plants yield ½ of the power produced, and at the same time some 83% of the CO2 emitted from all power sources. For each Kwh of electricity, about 2.1 pounds of CO2 are produced, and sent out as flue gas, on average, from the coal fired power plants.

A range of 1.5 to 3.0 pounds of CO2 are required for one pound of algae cultivated. Power plant projects are under the greatest amount of pressure to reduce airborne CO2 emissions today, however, larger fermentation projects are also viable CO2 source targets; plus a number of commercial energy production and chemical manufacturing sources as well. Most of the testing for CO2 fixation by algae has been via the coal fired power plant, which is a lean CO2 content v. a fermentation project. The difference in CO2 content can make for a broad range in capital expense and production cost, as well as the raw gas specifications – that being nitrogen oxides (NO x) and sulfur oxides (SO x) are major culprits when defining which algae strains will accept the use of a raw flue gas with lots of the sulfur and nitrogen compounds v. a generally cleaner by-product from select chemical manufacturing processes; which may or may not require purification in this application. Therefore, hurdles via flue gas include selection of a viable algae for cultivation, assuming little or no purification takes place; plus the application of large volumes of raw gas could be problematic, from an application point of view.

Algae cultivation as a carbon sink is a popular consideration among those in the power generating business. In this scenario, generally DOE or industry sponsored demo projects have produced most of the headlines in the press as of late. In such settings, generally the algae project is located around or near the power facility, chemical manufacturer, or other projects which have a significant CO2 output. The difference among various CO2 emitters, in terms of the amount of CO2 available per pound or ton can be a day v. night scenario, and this would then create a range of requirements for capital investment, application technology, and results achieved. In real world terms, it is not always possible or convenient to allow an 'across the fence' algae production site, in part, since adjacent real estate is not always conveniently available.

As to algae fuel, this can represent up to 30 times more energy value per acre than a common crop, such as soybean. Other examples, include the difference with palm oil can average one – fifteenth the energy value when compared with algae. Given the high oil yield from algae, it is estimated that about one percent of today's one billion acres used in the United States for farming and grazing would be sufficient (as land, pond, or ocean space) to produce enough algae to replace all petro – diesel fuel used in the United States today. That is a significant number, and algae should be utilized and developed to take advantage of opportunities such as this.

Numerous challenges lie in this successful application of algae as a medium in the biofuels world, when considering CO2 applications, which include distance from the CO2 source to the algae production site, the nature of the CO2 source – and how it impacts the cost and feasibility in this application. All of this is highly sensitive to the increasing requirement to reduce carbon emissions.

Application of CO2 and Sources

Many of the projects which have been evaluated or are under a test today are electric power projects, generally coal – fired projects. Since coal – fired electric generating plants account for about 40% of today's CO2 emissions, and if CO2 emissions are reduced from this sector, a major impact on greenhouse gases would occur. In the United States, CO2 is now being recovered from the flue gas produced from coal fired cogeneration plants; and the economic model worked due to a prior energy law which fostered the use of cogenerated steam which is used in an amine (MEA) solvent recovery process – a method of concentrating the CO2 from a lean content in the flue gas. Further, when considering relatively large CO2 emitters, the ethanol industry has been in the spotlight due to a substantial amount of CO2 emitted in a concentrated form as a direct by-product of fermentation. As to fermentation by-product, anhydrous ammonia by-product, and the by-product of certain hydrogen reformer processes found in oil refineries, to name a few - would have CO2 raw gas content (often in a water saturated state) of 97 to 99% by volume.

When comparing this to emissions from combustion of various fossil fuels, such as coal, this can often range within the 12 - 15% by volume order of magnitude. Gas fired turbine exhaust in cogeneration can be below 3%; and heavier hydrocarbons have higher concentrations of CO2 accordingly. Some consider the need to concentrate the CO2 via traditional processes, such as MEA, which is quite expensive. If using MEA, this would represent between three and five times the cost of applying CO2 from a concentrated source, such as those named above – let's say fermentation. Other novel or test applications are underway with so-called proprietary processes, including membrane and refrigeration systems. In my experience, however, new and novel means of concentrating the CO2 are not commercially proven thus far.

Therefore, the economics behind what type of CO2 source is used, is driven by the raw CO2 content in the gas – source type, as well as the impurities found in this CO2 source. If the source is relatively clean, and well concentrated, direct application for CO2 fixation by certain algae strains is entirely feasible. Separately, when concentrating a flue gas v. using a highly concentrated source (chemical manufacturing by-product for example), the economics are like night and day.On the other hand, if these projects are DOE sponsored, or within the forthcoming greenhouse gas laws and CO2 emissions regulations call for economic considerations, perhaps the need for concentrating or refining is a viable possibility. 

It has been found that select strains of algae might be able to endure a harsher environment when applying directly a power plant based flue gas. It has been found that a broad spectrum of algae will not endure the SO x and NO x content of raw power plant flue gas; however, algae strains specifically defined as NANNO2 grew after a lag period of time when under 300 PPM of nitrogen oxide. Other results when applying direct power plant flue gas in this application of algae growth, specifically NANNP-2 and PHAEO-2 algae proved to be successful with the harsh power plant flue gas in an untreated state.

Some of the above findings have proven well in a raceway type setting for algae cultivation, when diffusing power plant flue gas v. using a refined and / or liquefied CO2. The other consideration, beyond algae type and growth tolerance in the direct flue gas setting, would be the availability of real estate or physical space for algae cultivation. This thought precipitates the question of transporting the CO2 source to the algae cultivation site.

CO2 Transportation and Algae Cultivation Sites

Traditionally, CO2 has been transported (via pipeline, truck and rail) in a liquid form; always purified when used in the merchant markets. The exception to much or any purification has been for EOR – enhanced oil recovery. It is important to remember that liquid CO2 would represent a great deal more carbon dioxide presence v. simply trying to transport a gaseous, dilute, power plant product. The construction of a liquid carbon dioxide pipeline can easily run $1million per mile; and when transported as a liquid via pipeline, this distance can be substantial, these CO2 pipelines which transport liquid to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) sites are often long distance lines, up to one hundred , and even hundreds of miles; this would require sufficient compression on the front end and compression sub-stations in route. As to the case when considering algae fixation as a means of sequestering CO2, and a further means of producing a substantial raw material for the manufacture of biodiesel, it is entirely technically feasible to transport CO2 via pipeline. Consideration has been given to projects which use high pressure from enriched sources of CO2, such as fermentation for various destinations such as EOR. This concept could be applied to biodiesel in the fixation of algae with the CO2 by-product. As to transport of raw flue gas long distances, I would say this may be entirely new for a project such as this. First, the question is whether or not the algae will endure the SO x and NO x, plus other constituents; however there is evidence, as outlined before, this is possible with select strains of algae. Next, capital cost considerations for compression and pipeline as the basic infrastructure would be necessary. In the end, since massive quantities of CO2 from fossil fuel combustion in the power sector can amount to 20 million tons daily on a global scale – this is from a total amount emitted by all sources as 75 million tons of CO2 daily. When taking this into consideration, all means of containing, sequestering, or fixing CO2 via a environmentally friendly and extremely useful product such as algae is an extraordinary opportunity. The end result is twofold – the production of an extremely useful and rich in energy value v. grain and other organic matter feedstock materials such as soy and palm oil. Many of the test or small scale algae cultivation sites have occurred in a series of tubes, and bags, which have provided proof of growth capabilities. Larger scale cultivation of algae for energy sources, would probably occur in ponds, or captive seaside facilities. Please see caption number 1 as a conceptual flue gas from power plants for supply of carbon dioxide to the algae project.

Ethanol – Algae – Biodiesel loop

An interesting concept, in coordination with the production of ethanol, or other enriched CO2 sources, could be via a loop system, whereby CO2 from the enriched source could supply algae the ever-important carbon dioxide ingredient, in conjunction with sunlight, water and nutrients; thus producing algae and the high energy oil from a specific algae for biodiesel. The same algae could be a feedstock for fermentation as well; thus creating a full loop system. Please see diagram number 1 to view this concept.

Summary

The greatest level of CO2 content would be found among select by-product streams in the chemical manufacturing industry; and the larger scale plants are probably those to be targeted in the planned new legislation and EPA directives. The first 25,000 tons per year are exempt from any cap and trade, or other mechanism proposed by the House of Representatives and floating around in the EPA; however, other mechanisms beyond cap and trade may take place with the new CO2 related directives. Therefore, the focus for greenhouse gas reduction as carbon dioxide alone will apply to larger industrial projects, power plants, chemical manufacturing, oil refining, cement plants, etc. If the source is enriched, such as fermentation, then a higher quality stream of CO2 is available up to 99% by volume, with lower levels of impurities. If this stream is flue gas from power plants, the CO2 content would probably not exceed 12 – 15% by volume. In either case, we are working with a raw gas. If the CO2 is liquefied and or purified, then a further investment is required; such as concentrating the weak CO2 content in the flue gas off a power project or other large fossil fuel combustion project. The transportation of this raw gas would most likely take place as a pipeline operation; however, within a reasonable distance from the source to the algae fixation site would make the most sense – but long distance transportation is possible, at a price. The concepts surrounding the application of various forms of raw CO2 feedstock for the algae project are entirely possible. However the more complex the treatment of the raw stream is, and the more distant the algae site is from the source; the economic feasibility becomes more challenging. Since such a large focus on (fossil fuel) based power plants is now underway, and since this is the largest single source type for global CO2 emissions, the payback against the investment for the infrastructure surrounding CO2 treatment and transportation, in the form of revenues from the sale of algae for biodiesel may well outweigh the challenges. This form of sequestering CO2 is unique, since it represents carbon fixation in plant life, and it also is an ingredient essential for the growth of an energy rich product for the biofuels industry.

About the author

Sam A. Rushing is a chemist, and a consultant, as well as president of Advanced Cryogenics, Ltd., with decades long CO2 and cryogenic gas expertise with the merchant sector and as an international cryogenic gas and CO2 consultant, serving the biofuels, energy, and chemical industries. Advanced Cryogenics is celebrating a 20 year anniversary this year. e-mail: rushing@terranova.net , phone 305 852 2597.

Labels: Algae-CO2-Capture