Algae and carbon dioxide, raw materials to produce biofuel

Biodiesel production plant. (Photo: BFS, biopetroleo)

The company Bio Fuel System (BFS) started oil production from microalgae and from carbon dioxide (CO2) in a pilot plant installed in Alicante.

One of the main advantages of this artificial oil production system is the competitive price that the fuel market has.

According to the supporter of the initiative, the French engineer and president of the company Bernard AJ Stroïazzo-Mougin, solar energy and CO2 fed microalgae are used in the process as raw materials.

Another highlighted feature of this project is that during the production process the gas causing the greenhouse effect is consumed, which is very beneficial to the environment, El Periodico de Catalunya reported.

Thanks to the "competitive" prices of this process that was started last April, the construction of the first factories producing black gold began in Carboneras (Almería), the Portuguese island of Madeira and near Marseille (France).

So far, the discovery has not been widespread because, according to Stroïazzo-Mougin, the idea was to verify that the system was viable from the industrial point of view.

BFS President noted that the price of each barrel of oil ranges between USD 60 and USD 70.

He also indicated that the by-product obtained in this process is a large volume of omega 3 fatty acids, which has a growing commercial value in the food sphere.

"This is the key to make the production process profitable. The demand for omega 3 is growing and even in Britain the possibility of financing its supply is being considered through the public system because of its great impact on lowering cholesterol," added the executive.

The bio-oil has two major advantages over biofuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol:

• The cultivation of the raw material does not require areas that can compete with agriculture destined for feeding, like soybean and sugar cane. Microalgae are grown in vertical methacrylate tubes (photobioreactors) and it is not even necessary to replace the specimens because they reproduce themselves;
• The amount of CO2 that is absorbed by microalgae is almost two times higher than that emitted by the fuel produced by burning. The plant in Alicante is directly connected to Cemex cement plant and the plant in Carboneras will have a similar connection.

Original post available here.

Algae and carbon dioxide, raw materials to produce biofuel

Biodiesel production plant. (Photo: BFS, biopetroleo)

The company Bio Fuel System (BFS) started oil production from microalgae and from carbon dioxide (CO2) in a pilot plant installed in Alicante.

One of the main advantages of this artificial oil production system is the competitive price that the fuel market has.

According to the supporter of the initiative, the French engineer and president of the company Bernard AJ Stroïazzo-Mougin, solar energy and CO2 fed microalgae are used in the process as raw materials.

Another highlighted feature of this project is that during the production process the gas causing the greenhouse effect is consumed, which is very beneficial to the environment, El Periodico de Catalunya reported.

Thanks to the "competitive" prices of this process that was started last April, the construction of the first factories producing black gold began in Carboneras (Almería), the Portuguese island of Madeira and near Marseille (France).

So far, the discovery has not been widespread because, according to Stroïazzo-Mougin, the idea was to verify that the system was viable from the industrial point of view.

BFS President noted that the price of each barrel of oil ranges between USD 60 and USD 70.

He also indicated that the by-product obtained in this process is a large volume of omega 3 fatty acids, which has a growing commercial value in the food sphere.

"This is the key to make the production process profitable. The demand for omega 3 is growing and even in Britain the possibility of financing its supply is being considered through the public system because of its great impact on lowering cholesterol," added the executive.

The bio-oil has two major advantages over biofuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol:

• The cultivation of the raw material does not require areas that can compete with agriculture destined for feeding, like soybean and sugar cane. Microalgae are grown in vertical methacrylate tubes (photobioreactors) and it is not even necessary to replace the specimens because they reproduce themselves;
• The amount of CO2 that is absorbed by microalgae is almost two times higher than that emitted by the fuel produced by burning. The plant in Alicante is directly connected to Cemex cement plant and the plant in Carboneras will have a similar connection.

Original post available here.

Algae grower awarded for innovation

It grows at a phenomenal rate, can be harvested daily and can be turned into almost anything from fuel to food to medicine.

It's algae, and a company which has invested in producing it from carbon emissions has been awarded a major industry prize for innovation.

MBD Energy Ltd has been awarded the NAB Agribusiness Award for Innovation in New and Emerging Industries for developing a system using carbon dioxide from coal-fired power stations to grow algae.

Managing director Andrew Lawson says the CO2 is pumped from exhaust chimneys at the station to ponds, where it feeds the algae, pushing them to produce enough biomass for it to be harvested almost daily.

"The algae double their weight every one to two days; they need lots and lots of carbon and nitrogen and other elements that are in the flue gas," he said.

"About 98-99 per cent of their food comes from the flue gas and the remainder comes from the water they're growing in."

Meanwhile, an international algae company says Australia is leading the world in the deployment of algae technology.

OriginOil, which has links to MDB Energy, is working on a method of extracting fuel oil from algae at a facility in the USA.

CEO Riggs Ekleberry says algae projects and companies in Australia are far ahead of other countries.

"For example, Aurora Algae, which is actually based in San Francisco, actually has a major rollout going on in Karratha, Australia. So what's happening is that America seems to be where a lot of technology gets developed."

Original article available here.

Ky. power station to implement algae carbon capture project

The staff at East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s Dale Power Station in Winchester, Ky., is excited about a new project led by the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research that will bring algae photobioreactors onsite to the Dale Power Station starting this winter. Rodney Andrews, CAER director, spoke with Biorefining Magazine about the project and how his team hopes to overcome the common hurdles associated with using algae to capture CO2 flue gases from coal-fired power plants.

The project started three years ago in response to UK’s concern regarding the potential for future carbon dioxide regulation, said Andrews. The team at UK built small-scale systems to test the effectiveness of an algae-based carbon capture system. “Along the way,” Andrews said, “we haven’t run into any challenges that have said to us, ‘you can’t do this.’”

Now, through a $1.3 million grant from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, Andrew’s team will be able to scale up its 1,000-gallon small stoker boiler lab system to a 4,500-gallon system that runs off of flue gas 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Andrew’s team has expertise in integrating with power plants, he said, and the team has already addressed many of the challenges associated with a large-scale system at the Dale Power Station location. Because the amount of land needed to make a system economical is too large for an open pond system, the system used by the UK team will feature an array of photobioreactors. The team, he said, “is really focused not on fuel production in terms of the amount of oil in the algae,” but rather “we are looking at how to strip the most carbon dioxide out of the flue gas feed as quickly as possible. It is all about how we maximize biomass growth.”

Andrews describes some of the challenges in designing a commercial-scale system that could effectively capture emissions as an issue of understanding how to balance the light differences during the day and night, or how much flue gas can be fed into the system during nonoptimal growing times without creating an imbalance in the pH level of the algae water. But, those issues also come with an opportunity, he said. “We have a source of flue gas that is always there, and always at the same source of concentration.” Because of that, he added, the team can better understand how much CO2 could actually be removed.

The system to be run at the power plant isn’t one unfamiliar to the team. “We’ve actually been running techniques that we are very familiar with because of the work we have done with mineral processing with coal preparation,” Andrews said. The process is flocculation, the method used to harvest the algae and dewater the algae into a thick slurry created by settling over time.

Other teams at the university are currently working to develop more efficient harvesting and dewatering processes, as well as uses for the algae biomass that Andrews said could be used in anaerobic digestion to create methane that could then be reused at the power plant.

The East Kentucky Power Cooperative will provide $75,000 to the early stages of the project, and UK will provide $543,663, all to build the photobioreactor system and staff the project. During a press conference to announce the project, several high ranking Kentucky officials attended, including Governor Steve Beshear, and EKPC’s CEO Tony Campbell. “This research is vital to EKPC and to Kentucky’s economy,” said Campbell at the event.

“We have a long history of working with Kentucky power,” Andrews explained. “When he (Campbell) came in as CEO a few years ago, one of the first things he did is ask, ‘Do you have any projects you want to try at Dale?’”

Andrews said in the spring of 2012 they will significantly expand the project, and eventually the team will have to bring in an outside source to build a larger system.

To learn more about the project, click here.

Original article available here.

Algae.Tec to build first algae biofuel plant in Asia

Holcim Lanka's algae biofuel plant will be fitted with five bioreactors

Algae.Tec, a company dedicated to the production of renewable oils from algae, has been awarded a contract to build its algae biofuels production facility in Sri Lanka.

The plant is being constructed for cement and building company Holcim Lanka and is Algae.Tec's first plant to be built in Asia.

Holcim is investing in the plant to reduce its carbon footprint by channelling waste carbon dioxide into the algae growth system. The algae will then be used to produce low-cost biofuel.

The biofuel production facility will start off with five photo-bioreactor modules but this could be expanded to a much larger facility should Holcim decide the facility is beneficial. The company could also deploy the technology at more of its sites.

'The Algae.Tec facility is designed to reduce the cement manufacturing carbon dioxide emissions with an off-take intro the algae growth system,' says CEO of Holcim Lanka, Stefan Huber.

The Algae.Tec solution is less than one tenth the land footprint of pond growth options and its enclosed module system is designed to produce algae biomass in a range of environments.

The solution from Algae.Tec has many advantages for carbon emitting companies and industries seeking carbon dioxide reduction technologies.

For those wanting to learn more about the bioenergy market in Asia, Bioenergy International Asia expo & conference is not to be missed!

Held in Kuala Lumpur on 7-8 December, the expo & conference offers Asian companies involved in the bioenergy market an opportunity to network with existing and potential customers.

The two day conference programme provides industry professionals the opportunity to present to delegates their current projects and products in regards to the Asian market. The two day conference streams will cover bioenergy policy in Asia, bioenergy product updates and regional outlooks for the industry and the developer.

Delegates at the show include:
- ConocoPhillips
- Dona Maju Sdn Bhd
- Emery Oleochemicals (M) Sdn Bhd
- Future Prelude Sdn Bhd
- Peter Cremer (Singapore) GmbH
- PETRONAS Carigali sdn. bhd.any Limited
- Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd
- Sime Darby Berhad
- Thai Oil Public Company

To become a delegate, visit: http://www.biofuelsinternationalexpo.com/asia/conf_register.html

All other information can be found at: http://www.biofuelsinternationalexpo.com/asia/index.html

Original post available here.