Surfboards made from algal oil? YES

These sustainable “surfboards of the future” are made of algal oil, provided by Energy Department-funded and California-based biotech firm Solazyme. The oil is converted to polyols by UCSD chemists and then sent to the surfboard manufacturer Arctic Foam to shape the foam boards and then coat them with fiberglass and a renewable plant-based resin. Early surfer reviews have said the initial prototype was a “perfect ten.” The end-product is slightly more flexible than standard surfboards, which appeals to many seasoned surfers. Future work could make use of algae’s unique properties to create polyols that are specially tuned for foam characteristics that could further enhance surfboard performance.

^{Stephen Mayfield, Professor of Biology at UC San Diego (UCSD), rides a wave in El Salvador. He was a part of the UCSD team that developed the first algae-based surfboard. Credit: Stephen Mayfield, UC San Diego}

Almost all surfboards, along with many other everyday products, are made from fossil fuel-derived polyurethane foam. Polyurethane is made of polyols which are chemical compounds commonly used to manufacture flexible or rigid foams, such as those used in vehicle interiors and building insulation. They can also be used in coatings, sealants, and adhesives to produce an incredibly diverse array of products. By creating polyols from algae, UCSD scientists have clearly demonstrated that algae-based products have the potential to displace fossil fuel-derived chemicals. It may also provide a revenue stream for start-up companies seeking to scale-up algae production to the quantities required to meet the Energy Department’s 2030 goal of $3 per gallon gasoline equivalent algal biofuel.

In Oceanside, California workers from Arctic Foam prepare the world’s first algae
surfboard for the application of a fiberglass. Credit: Erik Jepsen, UC San Diego

On the eve of Earth Day, UCSD officially presented the first surfboard, bearing an Energy Department logo, to San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer at the premiere of National Geographic’s “World’s Smart Cities: San Diego” documentary, scheduled to air later this month on the National Geographic Channel.  UCSD also plans to submit an entry at a San Diego surfboard convention for a sustainable surfboard innovations prize. For more details about the ceremony and information on the development of the algae-based surfboard, check out the UCSD article,Surfing into a Greener Future.

Undergraduate students at UCSD determined how to chemically change the oil from laboratory algae into different kinds of “polyols” to produce the core of the algae surfboard. Credit: Erik Jepsen, UC San Diego

Twelve percent of each barrel of crude oil in the United States is used to make petrochemicals such as polyurethane and other non-fuel products. Displacing these products with algae -derived alternatives will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help to foster the domestic bioeconomy, and provide sustainable alternatives to environmentally conscious consumers. Half a million polyurethane surfboard cores are produced each year, and each could be produced from just a half liter of algal oil. This Energy Department-funded demonstration is one of many early stepping stones on the path towards full commercialization of algal biofuels. Learn more about the Energy Department’s research in renewable bioenergy technologies and market-based solutions here.

Uso medicinal de la planta de moringa y sus efectos

Reporte hechos por la UNESCO apuntan que la planta de Moringa oleífera se puede encontrar en todo el mundo, tanto en los trópicos como subtrópicos. Sus frutos comestibles y las hojas son una característica de la dieta en la India, Filipinas, Senegal, Níger, Etiopía y muchos otros países.

Granos de semilla del árbol poseen floculantes naturales y son utilizados por personas en el Sudán para purificar las aguas turbias del río Nilo. En la India, la tradición sostiene que el árbol de Moringa puede curar 300 enfermedades, y los herbolarios locales hacen un uso extensivo de productos de Moringa para tratar una cantidad de enfermedades, incluyendo diabetes, úlceras, hipertensión arterial, edema de pedal y dolores renales.

La planta de Moringa se cultiva en todo el Senegal, comúnmente visto crecer como un cerco vivo alrededor de los compuestos en los pueblos. Las hojas se cosechan periódicamente para hacer una salsa, localmente conocido bajo el nombre de mbum wolof.

Por otra parte, los investigadores han sabido por años que estas hojas representan probablemente lo mejor de las verduras tropicales en términos de contenido nutricional. Los análisis de laboratorio de las hojas frescas y secas han demostrado que son una fuente muy rica de vitaminas A, C, complejo B y E, así como hierro, calcio, potasio, magnesio y selenio. Las hojas también contienen todos los aminoácidos esenciales, rara entre las legumbres.

PROPIEDADES MEDICINALES DE MORINGA

Según Fahey, J.W. (2005), el uso de la flor de moringa tiene efectos curativos  medicinales , como:
Anti-Bacterial • Infección • Infección del Tracto Urinario • Virus de Epstein-Bar (EBV)
• Virus del Herpes Simple (VHS-1) • El VIH SIDA • Helmintos • Bronquitis tripanosomas • llagas o úlceras externas • Fiebre • Hepática • Lucha contra el tumor de próstata •  Radio de protección anti-anémico • Anti-hipertensiva • Diabetes / Hypogclycemia • diuréticos • Hypocholestemia tiroidea • hepatorrenal • Colitis • Diarrea • Disentería • Úlceras / Gastritis • Reumatismo • Artritis • Dolor de cabeza • Antioxidante • Los carotenoides • Energía • Deficiencia de Hierro • Proteínas, vitaminas / la deficiencia mineral • Lactancia Enhancer • Antiséptico • Catarro • Lactancia • El escorbuto y Tónico • Caries dental o dolor de muelas • resfriado común • mordedura de serpiente mordedura de escorpión • Digestivo • Epilepsia • Hysteria • Factores Antinutrietional • • Abortivo Afrodisíaco • anticonceptivos • Asma • cardiotónico • Flatulencia • Antiespasmódico rubefaciente • • • • La gota vesicante Hepatamegaly bajos • espalda / dolor en los riñones • Esplenomegalia • • La sífilis tifoidea • Dolor de oído • infección de la garganta • Antihelmíntico • El cáncer de piel • dolor en las articulaciones • Verrugas • bocio.

FACIL METODO DE USAR LA MORINGA

La forma más fácil para sacar provecho de Moringa es tomar el suplemento dietético llamado Moringa Té.  El Té de Moringa al hacer uso de la hoja seca preserva sus características, lo cual  le da todas las ventajas de comer bien la moringa directamente de la planta. Este increíble producto se puede tomar con tan sólo 1 pequeña bolsita de té al día, que le da 1.500 miligramos de 100 hojas de Moringa % de pureza, hasta 10 veces más que los productos multivitaminas los cuales muchas veces salen mas caros.

Algae nutrient recycling is a triple win

Date:

August 19, 2015

Source:

Sandia National Laboratories

Summary:

A method to recycle phosphate and nitrogen, critical nutrients for algae cultivation, has been developed by a team of scientists, who describe this method as a triple win – saves money in algae cultivation for biofuels, limits competition with agriculture for a nonrenewable resource, and keeps phosphates out of the environment.

Ryan Davis and Sandia National Laboratories colleagues have developed a method to recycle critical and costly algae cultivation nutrients phosphate and nitrogen.

Credit: Dino Vournas

Nitrogen and phosphate nutrients are among the biggest costs in cultivating algae for biofuels. Sandia molecular biologists Todd Lane and Ryan Davis have shown they can recycle about two-thirds of those critical nutrients, and aim to raise the recycling rate to close to 100 percent.

Recycling nitrogen and phosphate has benefits that go far beyond cost. While nitrogen can be produced through a costly artificial nitrogen fixation process using natural gas and atmospheric nitrogen, phosphate is a limited natural resource that can be toxic at high concentration.

"We have a finite amount of phosphate in the world, but it's in high demand as a fertilizer. Half of the phosphates that go into our crops in the form of fertilizer end up in the Gulf of Mexico, contributing to hypoxic zones," said Lane. Better known as "dead zones," hypoxic zones are areas of low oxygen concentration that kill or drive out marine life.

Economic models show that replacing just 10 percent of liquid transportation fuels with algal-derived fuels, though beneficial to the environment in many ways, could double fertilizer consumption, which, in turn, would drive up the cost of food.

But recycling phosphates means everyone wins: algal-derived biofuels producers, farmers and the environment. "By recycling phosphates from one batch of algae to the next, we save money, no longer compete with agriculture for a non-renewable resource and keep those phosphates out of the environment," said Lane.

Lane and Davis are considering other applications for their closed-loop algae nutrient recycling methods.

"Our method could be used to strip phosphates from the agricultural runoff before it reaches the Salton Sea," said Davis. Fertilizer runoff into the saltwater sea, California's largest lake, has led to dead zones that threaten fish and other wildlife. "Those nutrients that would otherwise further contribute to the dead zone could be used to grow algae intentionally for biofuels and other biobased commodities."

Osmotic shock key to releasing phosphates

Lane and Davis found their nutrient recycling method works on many different algae feedstocks, even mixed feedstocks. Because algae have more genetic diversity than any other organism, many methods developed in the past haven't worked universally.

The researchers use a fairly simple process, osmotic shock, to liberate phosphate from the cultivated algae. "We shock the algae with fresh water while controlling certain conditions like pH and temperature. This disrupts the internal structure of the cell and releases naturally occurring enzymes," explained Lane. "These enzymes chew up the cell and rapidly release the phosphates."

The next step is fermentation to convert the nitrogen, which is mostly in the form of amino acids, into ammonia. The phosphates and ammonia are then recombined -- with help from magnesium, present in great quantities in the algal biomass -- to form struvite, a solid salt.

In 2014, a Sandia team proved the method with 20 weeks of continuous recycling and reuse of phosphates and nutrients. They were able to carry over 60 to 80 percent of the nutrients from batch to batch.

"Every two weeks, we recycled the nutrients and fed them back into the next batch of algae," said Davis. "The process worked better than we expected, as we saw enhanced growth with the recycled nutrients. We aren't quite sure why this happened. It could be from trace metals carried over in the phosphate."

Lipid extraction enables nutrient recycling

The algae nutrient recycling research is part of a larger project funded by the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Technologies Office, part of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program. The Sandia team's partners include Texas A&M AgriLife Research, which grows marine strains of algae, and Texas-based OpenAlgae, which patented methods to lyse algal cells and recover algal lipids without using solvent. Recovered algal oils could be turned into fuel.

"We were very interested in OpenAlgae's lipid extraction because it doesn't use solvents, so the biomass is left in a native conformation that works very well with our process," said Lane.

OpenAlgae's method subjects algae cells to high energy electromagnetic pulses that rupture the cell walls and cause the cells to burst, releasing the lipids. In this disrupted state, the algae cells are much more susceptible to osmotic shock.

The nutrient recycling process also releases more compounds that can be turned into fuels. "There is a lot of protein in biomass and that soaks up the nitrogen. As we're liberating the ammonia, we're also capturing that carbon so it can be turned into fuel," said Davis.

Better and easier nutrient recycling

Lane and Davis are working to further refine their method to recycle more of the nutrients, including a collaboration with James Liao of the University of California, Los Angeles, to genetically refine their fermentation strain to increase yield and extract different fuel products. Liao runs the Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology Laboratory and is chairman of the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the department of bioengineering.

Another facet of the project is the development of a reactor system to capture the ammonia as the biomass is fermented to release phosphates. Currently, these steps are performed separately.

"The goal is a one-pot system," said Davis. "That will be the tipping point for scaling up our method. We grew 2 liters of algae in our 20-week test. The next step is to grow 3,000 liters in our raceways." Later this year, Sandia will open three 1,000-liter raceway testbeds, shallow artificial ponds for algae cultivation.

Pond-side processing is another goal. A single module combining lipid extraction and nutrient recycling could separate biomass into nutrients and fuel at a cultivation facility.

Panning for phosphate gold

Lane and Davis think their method could help the environmental if applied to agricultural runoff.

Nutrient recycling is like panning for gold -- or in this case, phosphates -- anywhere that fertilizer-laden agricultural runoff enters bodies of water. The key, said Lane, is getting the concentrated runoff before it enters the body of water and dilutes.

"Our method can't fix the existing dead zones," said Lane. "But it can stop them from growing. The irony is that those nutrients are so valuable to growing plants, but so damaging when they flow into large bodies of water. Isaac Asimov famously called phosphates 'life's bottleneck.' We aim to put an end to that bottleneck."

Israeli organic sea lettuce lines make a splash

Israeli organic sea lettuce lines make a splash

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August 24th, 2015

Fresh organic seaweed harvested directly from the Mediterranean Sea and cultivated in specialized offshore eco pools in Israel has led to new lines of ‘sea lettuce’ marketed by Arava Export Growers. Herb sales manager Omer Kamp speaks with www.freshfruitportal.com about the ‘mind-blowing’ superfood making waves in the Middle East.

“”Our organic seaweeds have all the characteristics that make a produce [item] a real winner. For starters, the nutritional value tops the charts in all aspects,”” Kamp says. 

““It can be used in diverse culinary applications, it’s eco-clean and organic and there is stable and continuous availability all year round with the unique and innovative methods.””

Grown at the Seakura sea farm located at the natural reserve of Michmoret on the coastal strip between Tel Aviv and Haifa, the seaweed is extracted from the depths of the ocean and carefully cultivated under a controlled process that balances water properties and circulation with the density of growth and exposure to the sun.

Using what Seakura describes as ‘ground-breaking technology,’ up to nine crops can be harvested per year of what Kamp describes as ‘the healthiest and most nutritional food on Earth’.

““The farm growing the seaweed, Seakura, is probably the only one in existence that actually cultivates the product on land and offshore with the use of purified Mediterranean sea water.

“”While others simply harvest the weeds from the ocean, Seakura took the initiative to grow it in specialized eco pools on the seashore, approximately 50 meters ways from the sea line. In other words, not only are the seaweeds 100% organic, but also they are 100% clean and with exceptional nutritional values.””

The ultimate superfood?

According to Seakura, the sea lettuce is packed with iron, vitamins B12, C, magnesium and protein with a mineral and fiber content so rich, it’’s difficult to find anything else with such ‘superfood’ credentials.

“”A seaweed, in all its forms, has the ability to absorb minerals, vitamins and all of what the surroundings offer. However, when grown near the shores, it also absorbs the negative elements we wish to avoid such as petro, lead, mercury and pollutants.

““Seakura, on the other hand, has innovated a unique technology that allows the control of what the plant absorbs by restricting its environment. Since the water is pumped from the abyss, heavy metals and petro is nowhere to be found, thus we get a clean, eco product.””

Avara is marketing two lines; the Ulva and Gracilaria either loose or in 100 grams closed lid packages which have a shelf life of around 18 days if kept at three to 6°C (43°F).

Negotiations are going on with retailers in the U.K. and Germany where the potential health benefits of seaweed are resonating with consumers amid a wave of celebrity chefs using it in salad, pasta and side vegetable dishes as well as part of trending vegetarian and vegan recipes.

Israeli organic sea lettuce lines make a splash

Israeli organic sea lettuce lines make a splash

Ethylene Production Via Sunlight Opens Door to Future - News Feature | NREL

Ethylene Production Via Sunlight Opens Door to Future - News Feature | NREL

Using Algae in the Wastewater Treatment Process - Sustainable technology...

3 Reasons We’re Closer To An Algae Future Than You Think

By PAUL LESTER | U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGYon July 30, 2015 at 5:00 PM

Tiny algae organisms have big potential for America’s clean energy future. These microscopic green machines convert sunlight into energy, storing it in the form of natural oils that can be extracted to fuel planes, cars and trains. It’s estimated that under the right conditions, algae could produce up to 60 times more oil per acre than land-based plants.

Since algae needs carbon dioxide to grow, it takes greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, making it nearly carbon-neutral. In addition, algae can grow in a variety of environments — including man-made ponds, brackish water and wastewater.

While algae shows great potential as a homegrown and renewable fuel source, just how far away is this promise from becoming a reality? Here are three reasons why we should expect algal biofuels to become a major contributor to our nation’s energy mix sooner rather than later.

1. PRODUCTION IS UP.

One of the biggest barriers to making algal biofuels more affordable is developing the right kind of algae that can yield large amounts of oil and grow quickly enough to drive down production costs. The Energy Department’s Bioenergy Technologies Office is addressing this problem by supporting research that involves finding new algae strains in the wild and improving existing algae strains in the lab.

Recently, researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography genetically engineered algae to boost the amount of energy-storing molecules essential for making oil, signaling a breakthrough in algal biofuel production.

2.  LOGISTICAL PROBLEMS ARE BEING SOLVED. 

Producing any type of fuel requires multiple processes and systems that convert raw material into a finished product. For algal biofuel production, this involves processes like harvesting, dewatering and concentrating algae material so it can be preprocessed and eventually refined into fuel. This can be expensive and time consuming — but the Energy Department is finding new ways to streamline logistics and lower the cost of algal biofuel production. This includes a process developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratorythat transforms algae to oil, water and usable byproducts in less than an hour.

3. ALGAL BIOREFINERIES ARE SCALING UP — BIG TIME.  

Algal biofuels are being produced on a bigger scale than ever before with help from Energy Department-supported integrated biorefineries that are changing the clean energy game. Among these is Sapphire Energy in New Mexico, which is producing algal oils that can be easily processed into diesel and other fuels through their refining partners, Phillips 66 and Tesoro. When fully constructed, the plant will produce up to 1 million gallons of algae-based biofuels per year.

Watch this Energy 101 video to see how algal biofuels work, and go to energy.gov/algae for more details on the Energy Department’s efforts to make this clean, renewable fuel source more affordable and sustainable. Also, read this article to find out how algae can used to make other products (like surfboards)!

Biofuel photo courtesy of Shutterstock. 

Blue algae outbreak threatens water supply in China’s 5th largest lake

Blue algae outbreak threatens water supply in China’s 5th largest lake

[China] Environmental authorities in east China’s Anhui Province are battling an intense blue algae outbreak in Chaohu Lake, the country’s fifth largest fresh water lake, as they struggle to ensure clean water for local residents.

Blue algae grew by as much as 852 percent from the normal level on July 1st and has been hard to contain, said Zhu Yu, deputy director of environment monitoring center in Anhui.

The algae, which usually blooms in summer amid warm temperature, were found at Bakou and Chuanchang, two sources for drinking water at Chaohu Lake. Dozens of environment workers are collecting the blue algae from the lake.

“We are closely watching the water quality. Microcystin, a toxin which threatens drinking water, has not been detected. We have also stepped up purifying procedure to ensure water supply,” Zhu said.

Emergency water supply is ready, Zhu said. About 50,000 tons of water can be supplied from other water sources in ten days.

He Zequn, deputy director of environment protection department, said Chaohu’s blue algae blight has eased over the last few years, but this year it has apparently relapsed.

More than 220 million yuan (about 35 million US dollars) has been spent to contain blue algae this year. About 120,000 tons of blue algae have been collected.

“The relapse is a new warning to us. We have to keep up with efforts,” he said

Microalgae discovery could lead to new cholesterol treatment

Israeli researchers have discovered a strain of microalgae that could be used as a treatment to reduce cholesterol, blood pressure and inflammation.

By Nicky Blackburn    JUNE 2, 2010, 12:00 AM

 

Jacob-Blaustein-Institutes-for-Desert-Research

Scientists from the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research hope their work with microalgae will lead to new treatments for high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Israeli scientists have isolated a strain of microalgae which produces large amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids that could be used to reduce blood pressure, chronic inflammation and blood cholesterol level, lowering the risk of heart attacks.

The researchers from Beersheba’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) discovered that the algal mutant, a microscopic algae found in freshwater, is capable of accumulating up to 15 percent (dry weight) of a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), called Dihomo-γ-Linolenic Acid, or DGLA for short. They believe the algae is the only known plant source capable of producing such significant amounts of this fatty acid.

“Omega-6 PUFA are necessary as components of brain cell membranes and have various nutritional uses,” says Prof. Zvi HaCohen, who leads the research team from the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR).

“DGLA is one of these PUFA, but appears in nature only as an intermediate in the biosynthesis of other compounds and does not accumulate to any appreciable concentration. There is no natural source for DGLA and although its beneficial effects are well known, very few clinical studies have been conducted,” he adds.

A treatment for life-threatening diseases

The research team also included the director of the Landau Laboratory at BIDR, Prof. Sammy Boussiba; director of the BIDR Prof. Avigad Vonshak; Dr. Inna Khozin-Goldberg; and Ph.D. student Pushkar Shrestha.

The scientists believe their find could have a significant impact on treatment for a range of severe diseases.

“The discovery of the IKG-1 microalgal mutant and its high content of DGLA could impact treatment of life-threatening diseases, such as chronic inflammations, multiple sclerosis and arteriosclerosis,” says Dr. Ora Horovitz, vice president of business development for BGN Technologies, the technology transfer and commercialization subsidiary of BGU.

The microalgal laboratory of BIDR specializes in microalgae and has developed a range of products that harness Negev resources like brackish water and abundant sunlight.

Ron Kotrba: State-of-the-Art Algae PBRs

Ron Kotrba: State-of-the-Art Algae PBRs

MBD algae technology expanding to cane industry

August 12, 2015
AlgaeIndustryMagazine.com

After successful results in the prawn industry, MBD Energy will test algae for cleaning dirty water in the cane sector

Lara Webster reports for Queensland’s Country Hour that MBD Energy’s algal-based water cleaning technology, being tested over the past year in the local prawn industry, may soon expand to the cane sector. The technology, which uses algae to absorb the nutrients in fish ponds, expel clean water, and at the same time produce large quantities of edible protein, has demonstrated a significant reduction in nutrient run-off.

Those results were the reason MBD Energy’s managing director, Andrew Lawson, said there were opportunities to use the algae in the cane industry, which has been under enormous pressure in Australia to reduce farm run-off.

He said planning was underway with the State and Australian Government to develop a five-hectare trial on a Queensland cane farm. “We’ve modeled 440,000 hectares as being the figure that would clean up half the nitrogen in the cane industry, which is a small amount of land when you consider the large mass of farms, but that’s a fantastic reduction.”

According to Mr. Lawson there has been interest from cane growers, refineries, and industry representatives but nothing would be promised until the system was proven to work as well as it had for prawn farming. “We’ll run this pilot and measure it within an inch of its life but then we’ll be able to say, hand-on-heart, this is a system that’s worthy of replication.”

With demand for protein growing in Asia, especially in India and China, there could be potential to harvest the algae to be sold for food, medicine and fertilizer. Mr. Lawson said the markets in Asia for edible food algae alone were worth around $10 billion.

Protein Goes Green: Can Algae Become The Next Soy?

By EDITOR

Originally published on Wed August 12, 2015 2:10 pm

• 

  This microalgae powder is designed for use in cooking, baking and smoothies. Marketed under the name AlgaVia, the powder is starting to show up as an ingredient in grocery store items.

  Solyzme

Could the next big thing in alternative proteins be a something tiny and green?

Several companies see a bright future for plant protein, and for microalgae in particular. But whether this attractive protein source can muscle out a place for itself against heavyweights like soy and pea is an open question. While soy has been the alternative protein of choice for years, up-and-coming companies like Hampton Creek Foods are using pea protein to make a substitute for eggs and mayonnaise, and are attracting high-powered investors. Will microalgae companies be able to follow suit?

Demand for plant protein of all stripes is growing in concert with growing interest in the U.S. in reducing meat consumption. Lots of people, from vegans to flexitarians to Meatless Monday dabblers, are substituting vegetables for meat. And the national Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee concurs: Their 2015 recommendationsemphasize a plant-based diet and suggest that Americans cut back on meat for health and environmental reasons.

Many are seeing a business opportunity in this shift.

"[Product] developers realize we need to broaden our protein horizons and are on the hunt for alternative protein sources," Camilla Stice, a food and nutrition research analyst at the tech strategy firm Lux Research Inc., tells The Salt via email.

Vegetable proteins are especially attractive, because consumers accept them more than other trendy protein alternatives, like insects. As The Salt has reported, even though it's getting easier to snack on bugs, entomophagy still seems pretty creepy to most Westerners.

Soy currently dominates the plant protein market, according to Stice. But it has lost some ground, due in part to consumer concerns about estrogen-mimicking compoundsand GMOs. Other plant proteins — from pea, rice, bean, potato and quinoa — are making some inroads.

But the algae boosters say it has nutritional advantages that make it stand out. Microalgae is 50 to 60 percent protein, but unlike many soy protein products, where the protein has been isolated from the plant, microalgae is generally used as a whole-food ingredient and retains more than just protein. Nutrients vary by strain, but can include fat; fiber; vitamin A, B, C and E; and minerals.

"Algae" informally refers to a variety of organisms that are aquatic and photosynthetic but lack stems, roots and leaves. There are two broad categories of algae: macroalgae and microalgae. Macroalgae are seaweeds, like dulse and kelp. They're large and multicellular, and are also of interest as a food crop. Microalgae are single-celled organisms, and some species (there are thousands) might make good biofuel.

A handful of microalgae species, Spirulina or Chlorella in particular, also show promise as a natural superfood. Technically, Spirulina isn't even an algae; it's a kind of cyanobacteria, called blue-green algae. But both Spirulina and Chlorella have been used as dietary supplements and in food products like green smoothie drinks, and both are relatively easy to grow. For some companies trying to make microalgae catch on as an alternative protein source, Chlorella is the microalgae of choice.

Here in the U.S., there's some buzz around Solazyme, a San Francisco-based company best known for its work with plant-based fuels. Now it's also developing microalgae powder for use in cooking, baking and smoothies. The food products are being marketed under the name AlgaVia, and are beginning to be used as ingredients ingrocery store items.

Mark Brooks, the senior vice president of Solazyme's food division, says he's excited about the prospect of bringing algal protein to the masses. "We are making new-to-the-world, game-changing protein," he says.

At Solazyme, a strain of Chlorella microalgae is grown in closed, stainless-steel fermentation tanks (as opposed to the open-pond system used in other production facilities) and then washed, dried, and milled into powder.

With fermentation, Brooks says, Solazyme can turn plant sugars into protein quickly. The short time required for a finished product is why he calls Solazyme's technology "revolutionary:" Instead of taking months to grow a crop, or years to raise an animal into adulthood, high-protein microalgae can be produced in a matter of days.

In Portugal, another company, called Allma, is offering microalgae food products. Allma produces a different strain of Chlorella algae that, unlike Solazyme's microalgae, requires light to grow inside a closed system called a photobioreactor. Sofia Mendonca, the business development manager at Allma, says that this method of growth allows a high level of control over algal growth.

Allma is offering several Chlorella products, Mendonca says, and consumer feedback has been positive. "Microalgae products are needed," she says, because "they represent a natural, high quality source of essential micronutrients." Mendonca thinks the future of microalgae is bright.

But that doesn't mean it's quite ready for prime time. "Microalgae cannot be yet considered a food commodity," Mendonca says. And, she says, there are some obstacles for her company and others to overcome before they can implement microalgae as a food ingredient.

Mario Tredici, a professor at the University of Florence who has spent several decades researching microalgae, says that for now, microalgae is still too costly to compete with other plant proteins. In 10 years, he predicts, the price may come down enough where it could compete with milk and eggs.

Stice agrees that cost is a problem. "The industry is looking for a low-cost, sustainable protein source," she says, "and developers have yet to prove algae is that source." Other concerns are also holding microalgae back, she says. Depending on the species of algae, the type of production system, and location, growing microalgae can use a lot of water and have high energy costs.

What needs to happen, Tredici says, is more research on growing microalgae at large scales. And if we can figure this puzzle out, cultivation of microalgae could have very large impacts. Growing microalgae saves soil, uses fertilizer with very high efficiency, and doesn't require pesticides. Water can be a problem, but closed systems of cultivation recirculate water to limit waste. Tredici's group is looking into cultivation of a marine microalgae as food, so that freshwater wouldn't be needed at all.

It may not be ready yet, but in the future, Tredici says, microalgae could compete with alternative protein sources like insects, with the added benefit of more vitamins and nutrients. "Protein is important," he says, "but algae are much more than protein."

Keeping algae from stressing out

Keeping algae from stressing out

While most people might know some algae as “pond scum,” to the U.S. Department of Energy, they are tiny organisms that could provide a source of sustainable fuels. Like plants, they can convert light into energy-rich chemical compounds; unlike plants, they require less space and don’t need arable soil togrow.

Some algae like Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (or “Chlamy,” as it’s known to its large research community) produce energy-dense oils or lipids when stressed, and these lipids can then be converted into fuels. However, researchers walk a fine line in not killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, in this case, stressing the algae just enough to produce lipids, but not enough to kill them. Published ahead online July 27, 2015 in the journal Nature Plants, a team led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, analyzed the genes that are being activated during algal lipid production, and in particular the molecular machinery that orchestrates these gene activities inside the cell when it produces lipids.

Algal cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii grown under nitrogen starvation conditions to produce lipids. The red is the autofluorescence from the chlorophyll of the cells while the green indicates the lipid bodies following lipid staining with Lipidtox Green. (Image prepared by Rita Kuo, DOE JGI.)

“We know how to stress the algae,” said the study’s first author Chew Yee Ngan of the DOE JGI. “What we don’t know is how to keep the algae alive at the same time, until now.”

Stressful searches

As part of the DOE Office of Science’s efforts to study algae for energy and environmental applications, the DOE JGI has published over 75 percent of all publicly available algal genomes. One of these is the Chlamy reference genome, which was released back in 2007. Until now, very little is known about the protein factor that can regulate lipid production. To find more of them, the team cultured Chlamy cells and starved them of nitrogen or sulfur, both of which are stress conditions to which Chlamy responds by producing lipids. They then analyzed the complex of DNA and proteins known as chromatin that define what genes are being activated, as well as the expression profiles or transcriptome, and compared these to non-stressed Chlamy cells.

“We’re looking for changes in starved cells vs. cells that are happily growing,” Ngan explained. Through careful analysis of genome-wide data sets, they narrowed down their search to identify two transcription factors that appeared to play a pivotal role in lipid accumulation, and then studied one of them, PSR1, in detail. “In studying the chromatin modifications, we can read out changes in the proteins bound to DNA on a genome-wide scale and then specifically target those genes whose regulation profiles are changed under lipid-producing conditions.”

“The study also demonstrated how cells can be tricked into producing lots of lipid without dying of starvation by overexpression of PSR1, which is a strategy that could potentially be applied in other industrial algal species better suited for large-scale biofuel production,” said study co-author Axel Visel, DOE JGI Deputy for Science Programs.

Adding genomic technologies to the arsenal

While the work is expected to help algal bioenergy researchers develop more targeted approaches for producing lipids for fuels, corresponding author Chia-Lin Wei, head of DOE JGI’s Sequencing Technologies Program, also pointed out that this study also successfully demonstrated an effective strategy for the integration of epigenomic and gene expression data, methods, i.e. the mapping of molecular tags that sit on top of the actual DNA sequence and affect its function, in an organism relevant to DOE missions in energy and environment.

“Such functional interrogation of the genomes, as part of the JGI’s 10-Year Strategic Vision, is expected to be widely applicable to more plants and fungi whose gene regulatory pathways still prove elusive,” Wei said, adding that Ngan and others at the DOE JGI are continuing this work in many other energy-related species.

Photo: Study co-author Yuko Yoshinaga works with C. reinhardtii cells. The team identified a transcription factor that appears to play a pivotal role in lipid accumulation, which could be applied to other algal species for commercial biofuel production. (Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab)