Algae--- fuel source

Hype and more hype

• Algae can produce up to 15 times more oil per acre
than all other plants used for biofuel
• Algae can double its volume overnight
• It would take an algae farm the size of Texas to
produce enough hydrogen to meet the world’s
energy needs
 What algae needs to grow
• Carbon dioxide
• Sunlight
• Water
Cyanobacteria/Algae
 Oil Extraction Methods
• Oil Press Method
• Hexane Solvent Method
• Supercritical Fluid Extraction
• Enzymatic Extraction
• Ultrasonic Assisted Extraction
Oil Press Method:
Ultrasonic assisted extraction
 The Process
• Ultrasonic waves are used to create cavitation
bubbles in a solvent material
• When the bubbles collapse near cell walls
they create shock waves and liquid jets that
cause the cell walls to break and the oil to be
released into the solvent
 Algae as Fuel: Biodiesel
• The lipid oil is converted into biodiesel.
• Easiest way is with the oil press.
 Algae as Fuel: Biological Hydrogen
• C. reinhardtii*, when deprived of sulfur, will switch
from producing oxygen to produce hydrogen.
• Due to an enzyme within called hydrogenase, which
is activated when algae’s internal oxygen flow is
interrupted.

• * Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a single-cell green

algae about 10 micrometres in diameter that swims
with two flagella
 Pros: Significance
• Versatility in growth methods
• Versatility in uses
• Speed of production
• Potential for huge production levels
• CO2 reduction
1g= 3.78 L
 Cons: Limitations
• Energy intensive
• Not competitive against foreign oil (yet)
• Needs funding
• Technology not ready
 Biofuels and food security
Balancing needs for food, feed, and fuel

Has biofuel production only adverse effects on food security?

Biofuel production can have a very positive influence on sustainability

(food, energy, medicine, building materials) if explored in a sensible
manner.
We can easily produce more food and more energy, and more materials
for building and textiles, as long as we use the land surface efficiently.

Any crop produced for a single purpose (i.e food alone, or fuel alone) is
wasteful, but as soon as we start thinking about-

multiple products from a single crop,

bio-energy can be one of them, and
food can be a by-product, or
vice-versa.
Current popular rumours that bio-fuel increases food prices are very
unfortunate and damaging to science and development, and they are
based on few facts, yet they have led to far-reaching decisions, such as EU
policy to discourage the use of food crops for bio-energy strategies.

Then What about other countries: USA!!!!!!???

One of the largest producers of bio-ethanol is Brazil, using less than 1% of

its arable land for the combined production of crystal sugar and bio-
ethanol. It is sustainable, because the crop is used for multiple purposes,
the fibres can be a fuel to power distillation (bioethanol), to power
crystallisation (clean sugar) and to generate surplus energy sold as
electricity. And since less than 1% of the arable land is used for this, any
increase in food prices would be marginal.
It is also wrong to categorically rule out food crops, just because
corn-ethanol in the US was a bad example. The best carbohydrate
crops (potato) have yet to be explored for bio-fuel. Potato is one
of the highest yielding crops in the world, but in the last 50 years
Europe has systematically replaced potato culture by very low
yielding rape-seed and more recently corn.
If sustainability is the aim, we shouldn't discuss food versus non-food.
The only considerations that matter are
1) how much feedstock can be produced per surface of land and per
time,
2) what is the quality and homogeneity of said feedstock, and
3) how well can the crop be integrated into crop rotation practices to
allow flexible use of our available land.

If you adhere to these 3 principles, you can rule out non-food crops
from the start, we can't eat poplar trees (cottonwood) or,
miscanthus (silvergrass) they occupy the land for years offering no
flexibility, their annual yield is low, and the quality of the feedstock
is poor...

makes wonder why so much money has been invested in second and
third generation biofuel.
while there is a (apparent?! perceived?!) risk for completion of
biofuels crops with food production, there is currently an
overproduction of food worldwide.

The problem with food production is not a limit on available land, but
mainly on good distribution of food.

About 1/3 of all food produced is wasted.

So, rather on focusing on whether we have enough food production

capacity, we should contrive better ways –

to process and preserve food and,

most importantly, better distribution.

Also, we should focus on turning food and food processing wastes into
biofuels .
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In a country like India, production of bio-ethanol from
sugarcane is a “negative energy” process and therefore, should
be abandoned.

India has decided to produce bio-diesel from Jetropha, which

can be grown in barren lands.

Such measure would not encourage diverting agricultural land,

which might have adverse effect on country’s food security
First generation of biofuels are those derived from food crops like corn,
maize, sugarcane.

But second generation of biofuels are derived from lignocellulosic waste

and non-food crops like jatropha and miscanthus. As biofuels are
produced from agricultural waste, second generation of biofuels do
not divert food away from food chain.

Moreover, third generation of biofuels are the ones derived from

algae. Algae grow faster and have fewer structural carbohydrates like
lignin and hemicellulose. Hence, they are easier to digest and can be
easily converted to bioethanol. We do not consume algae, so even
third generation of biofuels do not divert food away from the human
food chain.
A biofuel is a fuel that is produced through contemporary biological
processes, such as agriculture and anaerobic digestion, rather than a
fuel produced by geological processes such as those involved in the
formation of fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum, from prehistoric
biological matter.

What is a biofuel give three examples?

Examples of biofuels include –

ethanol (often made from corn in the United States and sugarcane in
Brazil),
biodiesel (vegetable oils and liquid animal fats),
green diesel (derived from algae and other plant sources) and
biogas (methane derived from animal manure and other digested
organic material).
 Disadvantages of Biofuels

Regional Suitability
Biofuel crops are no different from petunias or peppers in this regard.
Certain crops will grow better in certain regions and may not grow at
all in others. And while the range of oil-producing crops considered
viable for biofuel production is wide enough to fit most growing zones,
the most productive crops simply won't grow everywhere. Consumers
living in a low-producing region would need to have biofuel trucked or
piped to them, increasing both cost and the amount of emissions
produced in production and transport.

Water Use
The water demands of some biofuel-producing crops could put
unsustainable pressure on local water resources if not managed
wisely.
Food Security
One way to counter this lies in simple diplomacy: The globalization of
world commerce means that it's now easier than ever to move food
supplies from one part of the world to another in response to increased
demand. However, ready access to food imports, and the ease of
exporting, hinge on a wide range of political and social factors. Relying
on produce from halfway around the globe to feed a hungry nation is a
risky price to pay for widespread biofuel integration into the world's
energy supplies.

Deforestation
Biofuel demand motivates plantations to expand quickly. But if not
done with an eye toward conserving resources and maintaining the
spirit of reducing emissions through plant-based fuels, this ramping up
of production can lead to greater environmental problems than the
ones it's meant to solve.
Fertilizer Use
Phosphorus has been implicated as a trigger of localized algae blooms:
The tiny aquatic plants feed off it and rapidly reproduce, often killing
other plants and aquatic animals by reducing the amount of oxygen in
water or by releasing toxic chemicals. Nitrogen in drinking water can
lead to a host of health problems, including methemoglobinemia, a
condition that prevents infants from utilizing the oxygen in their
blood .
Careful fertilizer application can help prevent widespread pollution
problems, but expanding biofuel production to meet the world's
demand opens the door for more mistakes in this realm.

Fuel Use –Efficiency

A 2005 study suggested that, using current farming and production
technology, it takes anywhere from 27 to 118 percent more energy to
produce a gallon of biodiesel than the energy it contains. While
technology may eventually narrow those ratios, the input-output
energy ratio of modern biofuel production is a major drawback to its
Variation in Biofuel Quality
First, there's the issue of yield. The amount of vegetable oil available in
an acre of crops can vary widely, from 18 gallons per acre for corn to
635 gallons for oil palm.
A fuel that turns solid well above water's freezing point would not be
very useful in a cold location.
Many unsaturated oils have undesirable burn characteristics: They'll
leave gummy residue in an engine when used as fuel. Hydrogenating, or
treating the oil with hydrogen, can mitigate this problem, but increased
processing means increased cost.

Monoculture
refers to the practice of growing one heavily concentrated crop, rather
than the rotation of various crops through a farmer's fields over time.
Monoculture isn't a problem confined to biofuel production; it's an issue
that had been studied for years in relation to large-scale food crop
production. singular nature of a monoculture crop increases the risk of
a total loss for the farmer; imagine the damage if a severe strain of
Genetic Engineering of Biofuel Crops
genetically modified crops are altered in the lab to tolerate herbicides
better, fight off pests or produce higher yields. In theory, this sounds
like a terrific way to keep up with biofuel crop demand.

A prime example of this occurred in the early 2000s. During initial tests
of a modified strain of corn, researchers discovered that the crop,
which had been engineered to fight off a moth known to prey on corn,
produced pollen that could possibly kill larvae of the monarch
butterfly.

Scientists sounded the alarm, and further tests by academic and

industry researchers confirmed that the corn's pollen posed a threat to
monarchs. By that time, the corn had been on the market for a season.
Thankfully, it didn't sell well, so few fields were planted with it. Had it
been the season's popular strain of corn, there could have been an
ecological disaster as monarchs migrated through the corn-heavy
American Midwest.
Technical Challenges
Perhaps the most straightforward of biofuel's drawbacks is the
most obvious: It isn't petroleum-based fuel, so it will operate
differently in engines designed for petroleum-based fuel.

Corn-based ethanol, for example, has a higher density than

gasoline; fuel injectors have to be larger in an ethanol-only engine
to match the fuel flow of a comparable gasoline engine.

The conversion from one fuel to the other, in some cases, requires
a range of new injectors, gaskets and fuel lines.
Debates regarding the production and use of biofuel

There are various social, economic, environmental and technical issues

with biofuel production and use, which have been discussed in the
popular media and scientific journals. These include:
the effect of moderating oil prices,
the "food vs fuel" debate,
food prices,
poverty reduction potential,
energy ratio,
energy requirements,
carbon emissions levels, s
ustainable biofuel production, deforestation and
soil erosion,
loss of biodiversity,
impact on water resources,
the possible modifications necessary to run the engine on biofuel,
as well as energy balance and efficiency.
The International Resource Panel, which provides independent
scientific assessments and expert advice on a variety of resource-
related themes, assessed the issues relating to biofuel use in its first
report Towards sustainable production and use of resources:
Assessing Biofuels.[79] "Assessing Biofuels" outlined the wider and
interrelated factors that need to be considered when deciding on
the relative merits of pursuing one biofuel over another.

It concluded that
not all biofuels perform equally in terms of their impact on climate,
energy security and ecosystems,
and
suggested that
environmental and social impacts need to be assessed throughout
the entire life-cycle.