FY 1986 aquatic species program: Annual report

Technical Report · Sun Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6685289

The goal of the Aquatic Species Program is to develop the technology to produce gasoline and diesel fuels from microalgae grown in saline waters of the desert Southwest. Three major task areas are important to the economical development of this technology: biology, engineering, and analysis. Biological activities include screening, characterizing, and improving microalgae species. More than 3000 microalgae strains have been collected to date. With the intensive collection efforts, the program now has strains that can tolerate wide environmental fluctuations, from 10/sup 0/ to 35/sup 0/C and 10 to 70 mmho cm/sup -1/. Rates of productivity increased from 10 to 20 g dry wt m/sup -2/ d/sup -1/ in 1982 to greater than 50 g dry wt m/sup -2/ d/sup -1/ under laboratory conditions and more than 35 g dry wt m/sup -2/ d/sup -1/ in outdoor systems in 1986. Lipid content of the algal cells also increased significantly. A current problem is that salinity- and temperature-tolerant species do not have high productivity and produce large amounts of lipid. Therefore, basic research is under way in genetic engineering to put all three characteristics into one or two strains. Engineering research focused on polymer harvesting of microalgae. Aggressive research is needed, but the improvements defined are within the bounds of attainability. A major concern has been the availability of saline water resources in the desert Southwest. It has been recently demonstrated, however, that there is sufficient saline water in Arizona and New Mexico to produce at least one quad of energy from microalgae.

• Research Organization: Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 6685289
• Report Number(s): SERI/SP-231-3071; ON: DE87001149
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
140504* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Biomass Production & Conversion-- (-1989)
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290400 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Energy Resources
299003 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Unconventional Sources & Power Generation-- Other-- (-1989)
550700 -- Microbiology
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ABSTRACTS
ALGAE
ARIZONA
BIOLOGICAL ADAPTATION
BIOLOGICAL STRESS
BIOLOGICAL VARIABILITY
CELL CONSTITUENTS
DOCUMENT TYPES
EQUIPMENT
FEDERAL REGION IX
FEDERAL REGION VI
GENETIC ENGINEERING
GENETIC VARIABILITY
HARVESTING EQUIPMENT
HYDROCARBONS
LAKES
LEADING ABSTRACT
LIPIDS
NEW MEXICO
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PLANTS
PLASMIDS
SCREENING
SPECIES DIVERSITY
SURFACE WATERS
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
TESTING
USA
WATER USE
YIELDS