Novel Liner for Algal Biofuel Production
- Global Algae Innovations, Inc., San Diego, CA (United States)
Algal biofuels offer great promise in enhancing national economic and energy security through reducing imports of energy from foreign sources and energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases, while meeting the Renewable Fuels Standard mandate established within EISA. Algal biofuels offer distinct advantages of high per-acre productivity; use of otherwise non-productive, non-arable land; use of poor-quality water sources; and re-use of carbon dioxide. Furthermore, algal biofuels do not compete with food resources and can result in increased fuel and food production through the generation of a protein meal co-product. Systems that enable the economical production of algal biofuels are the key to unleashing this potential. Global Algae Innovations (Global Algae) is developing and implementing a broad array of radical advances in open raceway algae production, Figure 1. These advances span the entire production process to enable economical, sustainable production of protein and biofuel commodities from algae. Global Algae has achieved major breakthroughs in strain optimization, CO2 capture, contamination control, scalability, reduced energy requirements, productivity, harvesting, dewatering, and extraction. Algae cultivation typically has high initial investment costs associated with startup or scaling up. The pond liner is the most expensive direct cost of algae production, with an initial investment of over a quarter of the cost. By allocating less money to fixed costs, algae production becomes more economical. This spurs the industry forward and makes production more attractive for potential investors. The goal of this project is to develop a novel liner for algae biofuel production that would greatly reduce the initial cost for building an algae farm without compromising the quality of the material. The Phase 1 effort included two main tasks: (i) demonstrate the novel liner material performance in algae cultivation, and (ii) demonstrate an improved production method for the novel liner material. In the first task, the novel liner material performed as well as conventional liners. There was no impact on biofilm development or any other cultivation parameter, so the novel liner material is a good approach to lowering the cost of algae biofuel production. In the second task, the combination of a longer shakedown period than anticipated for the new manufacturing equipment and the limited availability of materials during COVID prevented achieving the targets within the budget and timeframe of the Phase 1 project. The overall conclusion is that the basic approach is fundamentally sound as a way to dramatically lower the cost of liners for algae cultivation, but additional effort is needed to improve the manufacturing equipment.
- Research Organization:
- Global Algae Innovations
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Engineering & Technology. Office of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0019910
- OSTI ID:
- 1877673
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-GAI-19910
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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