Blatant Reality

In yet another sign that the algae world is being taken seriously, Dow Chemical and Algenol have announced a partnership. This partnership will aim to produce ethanol from algae and be based in Freeport, Texas.

The project will use Algenol’s technology that calls for carbon dioxide and saltwater supplied to algae in photobioreactors to produce the biofuel.

 

Also contributing are the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Georgia Institute of Technology and Membrane Technology & Research, Inc.

 

Dow said the project aims for “a breakthrough process for ethanol production” that does not use food sources such as corn.

 

The United States is the world’s top producer of corn-based ethanol, but critics say this diverts needed food supplies and land resources for fuel, raising food prices on world markets.

 

“This project and the innovative technology involved offers great promise in the battle to help slow, stop and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Andrew Liveris, Dow chairman and chief executive officer.

In my most recent Celsias.com article, I review Mark Edwards’ book Crash! The Demise of Fossil Foods and the Rise of Abundance. Here is the review in its entirety:

A month ago, I wrote a review on Mark Edwards’ book Green Algae Strategy which discusses the potential of algae as a fuel and food source. Recently, I finished reading Edwards’ most recent book Crash! The Demise of Fossil Foods and the Rise of Abundance which looks at the sustainability of our current food production system and offers algaculture as an alternative.

 

Crash! is comprised of two distinct parts. The first half of the book deals with why our current farming practices are not going to be sustainable in the long run or possibly even in the short run. Edwards makes the argument that many of the resources that help make farming affordable today will soon become too expensive/inaccessible for many farmers to continue.

 

One critical resource for farmers that may soon become inaccessible/unusable are aquifers, natural underground reservoirs. For example, Edwards takes a looks at several US aquifers that have experienced massive withdrawals well over the natural replenishment rate. In particular, he discussed the Ogallala Aquifer located in the US that has in some places collapsed due to low levels of water and left many farms without a water source.

 

Edwards also points to many important natural resources that may have only a few decades left of reserves in the world. He argues that many mineral resources like potassium and phosphorus which farmers rely on as fertilizers are running low in known reserves. As the supply of these minerals becomes more and more constricted, countries that export them may decide to horde instead of selling them which will send the price of the remaining mineral stocks skyrocketing.

 

The consumption of these fertilizers has also increased over the years, which has helped attribute to the rise in prices. Edwards stated that fertilizer consumption over the past decade has increased by roughly 30% worldwide and by 56% in developing countries alone over the same time period.  Edwards continues by stating that this increasing consumption trend isn’t good news for an industry that has seen the price of fertilizer rise in the past year from $400/ton to $1,000/ton, a 250% increase that has attracted the attention of Congress.  He argues that these prices could eventually force many farmers out of business.

 

Leading into the second half of the book, Edwards illustrates how algae and SAFE (Sustainable and Affordable Food and Energy) production can ensure that agriculture as we know it will continue and not, well, crash.  He discusses the many applications of algae such as using it as a very nutritious feed stock for animals, using the oil to create green diesel for tractors, and using the remaining biomass as fertilizer for traditional crops.

 

Since the threat of depletion of important fertilizer minerals is one of Edwards’ arguments for changing the way crops are grown, he argues that algae can be used to help recapture these minerals in farmland runoff. This reuse of the minerals will lessen the burden of continually mining new resources and potentially help shrink “dead zones” by lessening the mineral waste in rivers going to the Gulf and other areas.

 

From a conservative standpoint, there are several things that worth highlighting. One is that he states a lot of “gloom-and-doom” facts about how our current agriculture practices will lead to a collapse in food worldwide, but he never argues that we can’t overcome this threat. Instead he poses that while the current production practices are unsustainable, the world will be able to sustain the food supply and avert an agricultural crash by switching to the SAFE solution.

 

Crash! presents many solutions to help prevent the agricultural calamity Edwards warns about, solutions that both conservatives and liberals can support. For example, Edwards argues against many government farming subsidies. Conservatives and liberals would both support the end of subsidies for inefficient programs like ethanol that waste natural resources and taxpayer money. It is arguments like these that I feel will help to bridge the gap between conservatives and liberals on some of these environmental issues.

 

Overall Edwards combines some gloomy scenarios with enough upbeat solutions to give Crash! an even keel about it. He does a good job of pointing out what will happen without becoming too depressingly Malthusian in his predictions and arguably presents SAFE production as the next potential agricultural revolution.

 

If you want to view the book before you buy it, Mark Edwards has generously placed the complete book in PDF form on his website, GreenIndependence.org . You can view the book online here (FYI: This PDF file is over 3 MB in size so it may take awhile to download).

I wrote about St. Louis receiving funds for algae research in April but now we have a little more information about how much and what the money will be going towards.

Researchers at two centers in St. Louis are gearing up to launch five-year research programs on algae, backed by U.S. DOE grants. The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center received $15 million and Washington University $20 million from the DOE’s fund for Energy Frontier Research Centers. A total of 46 centers were funded from a pool of some 260 applications.

 

Danforth’s Center for Advanced Biofuels Systems will be led by Richard Sayre, who also serves as director of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels. Sayre said the new team of researchers will be studying the conversion of energy captured from photosynthesis in the single cell algae and how it is channeled into oil. With algae oil production ranging from 5 percent to 70 percent lipids, the researchers will be working to identify ways to increase oil production. “We’ll take apart the system step by step and develop mechanisms to work around the bottlenecks,” he explained. The researchers hope to identify catalysts and enzymes that could be engineered into the organism to improve oil yields.

 

Robert Blankenship, professor of biology and chemistry, will direct the Washington University Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center which will use its DOE support to delve into the science of photosynthesis and how light energy is harvested using algae as the model. Blankenship will be coordinating the efforts of 16 other principal investigators from around the world. The Washington University project will focus on the biophysics of light while the Danforth Center project focuses on biochemical conversion of that light into oil. Both programs are hiring personnel and organizing to officially launch the programs in August.

So, if I am understanding this right, the Danforth Center will looking at how oil is created and how to maximize production while Wash U will be looking at how light is captured and how to maximize that.

I am in the process of contacting both research teams so hopefully I will be able to bring you some firsthand accounts on what exactly they are doing and what they are accomplishing.

In “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”, there is a scene where the Obama Administration is portrayed as weak and, well, a modern day Chamberlain. I Twittered about this two days ago when I watched it and now it seems the media is picking up on it.

I suppose in my driveway antics, I’d run the risk of squashing an Autobot, one of the good robot aliens, as well. If either Mudflap or Skids, a pair of new characters who speak in an appallingly offensive ghetto patois, were my victims, I could live with myself. The world doesn’t need more versions of Jar Jar Binks. But what if it were the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime? Optimus truly cares about the future of the human race, unlike the Obama Administration, which Bay represents as so prissy and antiwar it just wants the alien robots off the planet. Bay’s Obama would probably drive his Prius over Optimus if he had the chance. But no problem; if you still had your hearing in the deafening home stretch of Revenge of the Fallen, you’d know that just about any chunk of metal can be brought back to life by merging the Matrix with its Spark. (I’m fairly sure this process has nothing to do with Keanu Reeves. As for the Spark, without benefit of the Hasbro manual, it’s impossible to say whether it is of the plug family or something more ephemeral like Chi.)

What the article fails to mention is that the movie clearly went out of its way to mention Obama. Here is where they scene happened:

**Warning: This is not spoiler, but will definitely reveal some of the plot**

In the movie, the Decepticons are invading the planet in Mass and the President Obama’s liaison to NEST (military group that works with the friendly Autobots to protect world) orders the group to stand down and not fight the invasion. Instead President wants to look into all options including diplomacy. They even are considering giving Sam (Shia LaBeouf’s character) to the Decepticons (which means certain death) in order to appease them.

Without giving too much away, let’s just say the “Obama way” isn’t followed and the day is saved.

The funny thing is that they don’t just make vague references to some nameless president like in most movies; they actually reference President Obama by name in at least one scene if not more.

Even though the critics are already saying this movie was a dud, I would recommend going to see it if not just for this part.

Here’s another article I wrote for Celsias.com. This one is about American BioResources, and algae company strictly focusing on developing an algae growth system. Here is the article in it’s entirety:

A little known algae biofuel company based out of Denver, CO is looking to make big waves in the coming months. They have stayed off the radar so well that if you were to do a Google News search on this company, all you would get is a mere handful of articles. However, this little over a year old company, American BioResources, is positioning itself to be one of the leaders in the algae biofuel field.

 

While the algae field has many companies all over the world developing the technology and cultivating the needed markets, American BioResources is taking a somewhat different approach than the big names like OriginOil and Solazyme. While these companies are looking to create more of a complete algae biofuel system from growth to fuel production, American BioResources is focusing strictly on the growth aspect.

 

“We are focused first and foremost on being a raw materials provider,” American BioResources President Christopher Reim said. “We want to focus on growing algae; we’re not interested in going upstream and being a refiner.”

 

In their growth system, they are looking to have the ability to grow different strains of algae since each strain can offer unique benefits and applications in the fuel sector as well as others.

 

Additionally, American BioResources believe that their growth system will have a better handle on the input energy costs than other systems out there. By using a closed growth system, they have direct control over what energy goes into the system and can ensure the energy produced outweighs the input.

 

“We believe we understand something very unique about how to use the right amount of energy through artificial lighting to get very good performance of algae,” Reim said. “We think we are getting more output because we are [growing algae] 24/7 at a frequency of light that is more meaningful to photo synthetic activity [than regular sunlight].”

 

Compared to some companies out there, American BioResources is well along in the  development of their growth system. They plan to sell a prototype of their growth system by the end of this summer and have several pilot growth projects up and running by the first quarter of next year.

 

As with most algae systems, CO2 is needed for growth and American BioResources is looking to localized sources to supply their closed growth systems.

 

“Because we are looking at a distributed production capability, meaning our units could be used in many locations across the US, we are looking for a regionalized model of CO2 collection and then use.”

 

To get CO2 to their growth systems, American BioResources is not looking to revolutionize CO2 collection systems. Instead, they are looking to partner with companies that can affordably provide the needed CO2.

 

“We want to partner with regional providers of CO2 to help them become a little greener for doing so but also match that with a logistics model that makes it affordable for us to get the CO2 where we need it.”

 

Even with a successful algae production system, algae biofuel companies still have to overcome the hurdle of finding support and interest from the public. American BioResources seems to have overcome this hurdle.

 

“We have a high level of interest from a broad mix of different parties, some private, some public,” Reim said.

 

Reim explained that the United States Department of Agriculture is one entity that has shown “excitement” towards American BioResources’ developments since algae growth offers rural economic development opportunities for farmers as well as providing a realizable fuel source.

 

“Today we are constrained in part by the cost and seasonality of the other [biofuel]  crops. We think that we can break out of that [constraint with algae].”

 

American BioResources also hasn’t disregarded the altruistic and infrastructure building potential that algae can offer. Reim explained that his company is currently looking into a partnership that will ultimately help bring these growth systems to third world countries to help supply energy as well as nutritional supplements like protein.

 

“If we even contributed in a small way to the general health improvement of developing nations, we would be incredibly proud.”

 

To conclude, Christopher Reim summarized what differentiates American BioResources from other algae biofuel companies.

 

“First, we are solely about growing algae, not about being an integrated refiner of fuels that happen to come from algae. That means that we can partner with those who already have an invested interest in refining and many of which have indicated they are gearing up to take algae oil. Second, we want to focus on our ability to deliver to the market at scale. First small scale, and specifically small scale where that is appropriate, and then replicate large volumes of capacity by getting many participants, primarily from agriculture, to work with us so we bring a new crop to market.”

 

Overall, American BioResources strict focus on a growth system is important in the advancement of the algae biofuel as a whole. Since producing large quantities of algae at a low cost is one of the remaining hurdles for algae biofuels, the laser-like focus of American BioResources on the growth aspect will definitely benefit the entire algae biofuel field.

UPDATE: Christopher Reim, the President of American BioResources, posted these corrections in the comment section:

Jonathan: Thank you for a very well-prepared and written article on our company! As a matter of record, I thought I would make two corrections so we don’t offend the better sensibilities of your informed readers. (A) We do not purport to create more energy “out” than energy going “in” to our system (you just can’t touch that First Law of Thermodynamics). But we do work to create an economically justifiable output of algae from our system, which our prototypes will seek to validate through this year. (B) We are not prepared to sell prototype units or other systems this year, but given success with our validation phase through this year, we hope to go to market as early as possible into next year (2010). Thank you again for your attention and interest.

My mistake on both accounts. I went back to the original interview and discovered that I had heard wrong in both instances. Thanks Christopher for those needed corrections.

Jeffrey Decker at Renewable Energy World has a great article which overviews what is going on in the algae biofuel field. If you are interested in getting a feel for what is going on right now in the field, I would highly recommend checking the article out.

The only problem I have with the article is that they have GreenFuel Technologies as proceeding “on a steady course” when, in fact, the company has basically ceased operations. Currently, GreenFuel is selling off their intellectual and other assets which doesn’t sound like a company that is on a steady course.

Other than that, everything else looks to be in order and judging on how long and indepth the article is, the GreenFuel part may have been written before they folded.

Happy Father’s Day! Thanks to all the fathers out there for all you do.

While I might not always agree with all the reason for wanting to get off oil, I have to give OriginOil credit for having a seemingly solid model for getting us there.

At the UN’s Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization (IREO) Conference last week, OriginOil’s CEO Riggs Eckelberry outlined his plan on how biofuels like algae will be able to overtake oil by 2030. In this outline, Eckelberry argues that a centralized structure is not going to work. However, a decentralized structure focusing on many individual biofuel entrepreneurs all over the world will be key to ending the dependence on oil.

He suggests that his company and others should help to provide these entrepreneurs with the algae “cookbook” in order to start production themselves. This aggregate of many small production operations will eventually eliminate the need for reliance on oil as well as benefiting many poor countries gain access to affordable and local energy.

He compared his plan to the development of the internet where no one person controls the development and instead relies on millions of individuals continually bettering the whole.

To view a video Riggs Eckelberry’s presentation, click here.

To read the PowerPoint Presentation shown, click here.

Lastly, here is the press release concerning the event:

Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY, June 17, 2009 – OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, reported that CEO Riggs Eckelberry outlined a plan to overtake petroleum during a panel session at the inaugural Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization (IREO) Conference, held at the United Nations on June 11, 2009. He warned that without a new approach, petroleum could remain strong until 2060.

 

A video of the presentation and photos from the conference and awards gala may be viewed on OriginOil’s IREO conference page. Eckelberry’s presentation may also be read on the OriginOil website as a PDF.

 

“In our planning for renewable energy, we have tended to follow old-school energy thinking, which focuses on large, centralized facilities,” Eckelberry commented. “We believe the solution is networked and distributed and based on large-scale information sharing.” He continued, “We know that entrepreneurs worldwide want to start making biofuels now for their local communities and industries. That’s the model of the future – we call it ‘mushrooms after the rain’.”

 

IREO Secretary-General Robson Mello applauded OriginOil’s contribution to both the conference and biofuels industry at large. “We found Riggs Eckelberry’s comprehensive approach to solving our petroleum dependency to be realistic and powerful,” said Mello. “We know we have OriginOil’s full support in rolling out renewable energy solutions throughout the world and we look forward to a long and productive collaboration.”

 

The following speakers joined Eckelberry to speak on the ‘Future of Renewable Energy’: HRH Prince Malik ado Ibrahim of Nigeria; Guillermo Garcia of the Universidad de las Palmas; John Paul DeJoria, owner of Paul Mitchell Systems; Josh Tickell of FUEL The Film (www.fuelthefilm.com); and H.E. Francis Lorenzo, Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic. The panel was moderated by Dr. Carl Liggio.

 

As the foremost international voice on renewable energy worldwide, IREO has established this annual conference to bring together leaders from political, private and academic sectors to discuss the state of renewable energy needs and plausible solutions in response to the growth of developing nations around the world.

 

IREO is a proponent of clean and efficient energy sources combined with sustainable development and social awareness. The organization started as a partnership initiative launched in response to the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Kyoto Protocol, the Johannesburg Declaration and the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in New York. For more information, please visit www.ireoigo.org.

 

About OriginOil, Inc.

 

OriginOil, Inc. is developing a breakthrough technology that will transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum. Much of the world’s oil and gas is made up of ancient algae deposits. Today, our technology will produce “new oil” from algae, through a cost-effective, high-speed manufacturing process. This endless supply of new oil can be used for many products, such as diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, plastics and solvents, without the global warming effects of petroleum. Other oil-producing feedstock, such as corn and sugarcane, often destroy vital farmlands and rainforests, disrupt global food supplies and create new environmental problems. Our unique technology, based on algae, is targeted at fundamentally changing our source of oil without disrupting the environment or food supplies. To learn more about OriginOil™, please visit our website at www.originoil.com.

For those conservatives out there, who might be wondering why getting off oil and relying more on alternative fuels like algae is a good idea, check out my “A Conservative’s Case for Alternative Fuels“.

I recently wrote an article published on Celsias.com giving reasons on why conservatives should support alternative fuels like algae. Here’s the article in its entirety:

Alternative fuels have been proclaimed as a way to help the environment and reduce our overall carbon emissions. However, while many environmentalists and liberals wholeheartedly support these new fuels, their approval oftentimes automatically makes conservatives suspicious of the alternatives. Also, supporters of alternative fuels have in some cases completely ignored the questions and concerns people have about these new fuels, further compounding the problem. However, if both sides were to toss away the politics for a moment, they would see that a new fuel source is everyone.

 

One of the most promising alternative fuels that would satisfy requirements from each side is algae. Environmentalists already support algae as an alternative fuel source for many reasons.

 

For example, algae biofuels are essentially carbon neutral, their growth has a very small impact on the environment, and algae can actually help to enhance wastewater treatment. Therefore, environmentalists aren’t the ones that need to be convinced about the benefits of algae. Conservatives and those skeptical of alternative fuels are the ones that need to be convinced of the benefits of algae. In order to do this, the following two issues will have to be addressed with regards to algae: how it will benefit national security and the economy.

 

First off, using algae as a fuel source will actually help strengthen national security in the following four ways.

 

1.      Algae can produce more fuel than any other biofuel source. The shear amount of fuel that can be produced by using algae will strengthen national security. With yields close to 6,000 gallons of fuel per acre per year, a country like the U.S. would only need the area the size of Maryland to produce 100% of its liquid fuel needs  , essentially ending its dependence on foreign oil and petroleum in general. Having the ability to produce all the fuel needed domestically will allow the country to offer greater protection to its domestic supply infrastructure than relying on the otherwise fragile world supply structure  .

 

2.      Algae production doesn’t take up any cropland. This eliminates the food-for-fuel dilemma   that converting food crops like corn and soybeans have caused. While countries like the United States have plenty of food, many have argued that increase corn ethanol production has caused destabilizing food riots   in other countries. This regional destabilization could threaten national security if it were to occur in a region vital to that country’s interests (IE the Middle East, China, or Mexico for the United States). Therefore, since algae can be grown on marginal land, it will eliminate the need to take cropland and convert it to grow crops for fuel.

 

3.      Algae can be produced practically anywhere. Since there are two methods of production, either closed systems like bioreactors or open systems like ponds, a technique can be adapted to any region or climate. This means that fuel production can be spread across a country and not centralized allowing local refineries to produce the fuel needed for the local population. The decentralization will also offer greater protection from attacks or natural disasters like Hurricane Ike which damaged multiple refineries   on the Gulf Coast causing gas prices in the southeast to soar. With a decentralized structure, If an attack or disruption does happen to one algae production/refinery plant, only that immediate region might suffer and not the whole country.

 

4.      Algae oil also offers many benefits for the military. For example, jet fuel makes up the majority (roughly 70%) of the U.S. Department of Defense’s fuel needs  . Unlike other alternative fuels like ethanol, algae can produce aviation fuel that is ASTM qualified   for current engines. In fact, several successful test flights   with algae as one of the key fuel components have taken place just in the past year. With these advances, the Department of Defense has already signaled that algae is seriously being considered as part of the U.S. national security plan by investing $35 million towards researching algae as a military aviation fuel  . Algae oil will ensure the U.S. military a constant supply of aviation fuel.

 

Algae biofuels also offer many economic benefits as well:

 

1.      Algae oil can essentially be refined into any comparable petroleum based product. This means that algae oil can be refined into aviation fuel for military or commercial planes or gasoline for cars. The best part is that the fuel refined from algae oil would be able to run in current car engines   without any changes to the engine structure. This would allow a seamless conversion to this new oil source without the economic disruptions converting to other alternative fuel sources like hydrogen would cause.

 

2.      Algae production can be coupled with other processes in a way to add value to previously viewed waste products. For example, many algae oil companies are considering coupling algae production with coal plant emissions  . This means that the CO2 which would otherwise be viewed as a waste product, will now have value. Another area where algae will be able to add value to ‘waste’ items is in wastewater treatment. By using algae in the wastewater treatment process, plants will have the ability to harvest and sell the algae used in the treatment or convert it into fuel to run the operations of the plant. One process developed by Algaewheel says that energy costs are 30% less by using their algae system as well as creating 95% less solid waste   which is both environmentally and economically friendly (less waste means lower costs in disposal).

 

3.      Products other than oil can be produced from algae as well. For example, the algal biomass remaining after oil extraction can be converted into feedstock for fish, poultry, pigs, or even cows helping to reduce the overall costs of food. Algae also has the potential to become a food source directly for human consumption. Algae, while unappetizing to many, is actually very nutritious and the Japanese have been eating algae in the form of seaweed for centuries  . Additionally, chemical or pharmaceutical products can be created from algae. One example is an $800/gallon chemical (propyl butyrate) that can be produced by feeding algae to microbes  . This particular use will be perfect for algae produced in wastewater treatment facilities that, due to the exposure to potentially harmful substances, might not be fit for feedstock or human consumption.

 

These few examples don’t cover every way algae production can benefit national security or the economy. However, hopefully these examples show that algae, an alternative fuel supported by environmentalist, also offers broad benefits to those with a conservative mindset as well.

I’ll be gone on a foat trip from today until Wednesday. Be sure to follow my twitter (http://www.twitter.com/BlatantReality) for updates and such. Well, there should be updates if my phone gets signal from the campsite…