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

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  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)

Converde begins wet algae grinding, oil extraction

August 7, 2015
AlgaeIndustryMagazine.com

onverde Energy USA Inc. has announced that it will begin to test simultaneous grinding and oil extraction of algae at their Cambridge, Ontario, Canada facility using their new algae bioreactor technology, and has hired a biochemical engineer to oversee the project. They intend to have a new pilot system up and running in the near future.

In the meantime Converde management has decided to use their oil extraction technologies to assist other algae producers with oil extraction. “Our grinding technology is a leader in the marketplace and continues to out perform traditional oil extraction technologies as well as existing milling technologies presently in the market,” said Michael McLaren, Converde’s CEO.

“What differentiates us from the competitors with our technology is the ability to wet grind and extract the oils without having to dry the product. This will allow us to save time and money,” he added.

Converde Energy USA Inc. develops renewable energy technologies and applies them to new generation power systems. Converde Energy’s plasma assisted biomass to energy plants use state of the art technologies to produce green energy in both fuel (sulfur free diesel) and electricit

Obama’s Clean Power Plan: A “Huge Win for Algae”

August 4, 2015 | Jim Lane

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The EPA finalizes its rule for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and includes strong support for “carbon capture and use”.

In Washington, the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan has been hailed by the Algae Biomass Organization and other sections of the advanced bioeconomy as a “huge win for algae” with its OK for carbon capture and use technologies.

The Clean Power Plan sets federal guidelines for states to follow in order to cut carbon emissions by 32 percent before 2030. According to the EPA, CO2 alone is responsible for 84% of the greenhouse gas problem. More than a third of that comes straight from existing power plants.

The Plan is a final rule from the EPA, capping a years-long effort by the Obama Administration to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, after efforts to pass legislation for cap-and-trade failed in the Congress during Obama’s first term. Along the way, the US Supreme Court confirmed the Administration’s right to regulate CO2 as a pollutant.

A signature feature of the plan is having individual state-level plans that manage remediation plans for the obligated emitters in their respective jurisdictions.

As assist for algae

The Clean Power Plan rule announcement says, “state plans may allow affected [Electric Generating Units] to use qualifying CCU technologies to reduce CO2 emissions that are subject to an emission standard…”

The rule further notes, “state plans may allow affected EGU’s to use qualifying CCU technologies to reduce CO2 emission,” and “emission goals would require a better understanding of the ultimate fate of the captured CO2 and the degree to which the method permanently isolates the captured CO2 or displaces other CO2 emission from the  atmosphere.”

According to Algenol, the #3-ranked company in the Advanced Bioeconomy, “just $2 worth of CO2 can make seven barrels of fuel.” Accordingly, carbon capture and use (known collectively as CCU technology) is a carbon remediation strategy critical to virtually every company using microalgae or cyanobacteria to convert CO2 plus water into a range of fuels, chemicals, protein, fertilizer, omega-3 nutraceuticals, cosmetics, biomaterials or other bioeconomy products — making it possible for algae companies and others to obtain CO2 from power plants as part of an overall greenhouse gas reduction program by the obligated parties.

Alternatives to geologic sequestration for permanent confinement

The Plan also sidestepped efforts to definite carbon capture and sequestration exclusively via landfilling CO2 in geologic formations — for example sequestering CO2 in biobased materials. The Plan notes:

“Potential alternatives to sequestering CO2 in geologic formations are emerging. These relatively new potential alternatives may offer the opportunity to offset the cost of CO2 capture… these technologies not only show promise, but could potentially be demonstrated to show permanent storage of CO2. In the January 2014 proposal, the EPA noted that it would need to adopt a mechanism to evaluate these alternative technologies before any could be used in lieu of geologic sequestration. 79 FR at 1484. The EPA is establishing such a mechanism in this final rule. See §60.5555(g). The rule provides for a case-by-case adjudication by the EPA of applications seeking to demonstrate to the EPA that a non-geologic sequestration technology would result in permanent confinement of captured CO2 from an affected EGU.

The overall Clean Power Plan

The overall EPA Final Rule is here.

US President Barack Obama unveiled his 1300-page Clean Power Plan, focused on limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants — essentially, shifting broadly to renewables such as wind and solar, while maintaining the use of natural gas.

President Obama called it ”the biggest, most important step we have ever taken” on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. I’m convinced no challenge provides a greater threat to the future of the planet. There is such a thing as being too late. If we don’t do it nobody will. America leads the way forward. This is our moment to get something right and get something right for our kids”.

Algae stakeholder reaction

“This is a huge win for the algae industry,” said Matt Carr, executive director of the Algae Biomass Organization, “and one we have been working towards for more than a year. The rule gives new certainty to a number of companies across the nation that are commercializing algae-based technologies that convert carbon dioxide generated at power plants into fuels, feeds, fertilizers and other valuable products. Carbon utilization will reduce the cost of emissions reduction for utilities and rate payers, and in some cases create a new revenue stream. This common-sense, market-driven approach has bi-partisan support throughout Congress and its growing importance is reflected by several bills in the House and Senate that direct federal agencies to increase funding for carbon utilization.

Algenol CEO Paul Woods also hailed the move. “My hope was to move towards an inclusion of carbon utilization with this final rule. Here,.they went farther, they specifically named algae.”

What went right for algae here, why the big win?

“We are the one part of the clean power rule that wasn’t controversial, said Woods. “Carbon utilization is taking advantage of American high tech, and is not a burden on electric customers because we pay for the CO2 we use. So we had bipartisan support for this provision. Now, the utilities have a portfolio of options, and in our case what’s different about ALgenol is that we have the approved EPA pathway. This allows for affordable electricity and clean power, both. We want to buy from the electric company, and see that money flow to the customers.

“That is key. If we want a green economy, we have to have low-cost solutions,” Woods added.

What’s next for algae, we asked Woods, in terms of the final steps before commercial-scale algae renewable fuels can be built in the US?

“Two things would help. Having Master Limited Partnerships opened up to renewable fuels, not just fossil fuels. That would help every company commercializing renewable fuels. Also, renewal of the Production Tax Credit for more than one year, a whole lot more. These one-year retroactive credits don;t help with project finance, the most important thing is to make it certain, and by establishing this in advance it’s no different than doing it retroactively, in terms of the tax impact. But it would make a huge impact for projects.

Do Anaerobic Digestion Plants Smell?

Do Anaerobic Digestion Plants Smell?

Anaerobic digestion plant smell is a very highly debated subject, and whenever most new AD (biogas) plants are proposed (and a planning application is submitted) it is a topic of great concern to every local resident. With that in mind, I expected to see any number of articles on this topic when I looked on the web. So, I looked, and I didn't find them.

To my surprise I found that there are numerous website pages written by AD Plant objectors about specific planning applications, and by journalists reporting on what those same AD plant objectors were saying for local papers. But, nowhere did I see an attempt at presenting a rational view on this vexing question. It is an important subject, so I thought that I would write this piece in an attempt to present a "balanced" view on whether anaerobic digestion plants really do smell.

First of all. Let's be perfectly honest, these plants handle organic materials and at times these will already be starting to decompose as soon as they reach the AD Plant site. Once on-site the anaerobic digestion process itself is inherently smelly. Nobody could truly say that there is not a potential odour problem for all biogas plants. Decomposition (rotting) of organic matter produces some of the most offensive odours known to man, and decomposition is what the anaerobic digestion process is all about.

So, anaerobic digestion smells? Well to put a finer point to it, the materials which are fed into a biogas reactor can smell unpleasantly, and the output which is known as "digestate" (simply meaning the liquid and fibre which is left-over after the biogas gas-making reaction has occurred) invariably has a nasty odour, when it is first exposed to the air.

But, that categorically does not mean that an anaerobic digestion PLANT will smell, nor that anaerobic digestion plants are smelly. They can and should be operated responsibly, and with adequate design provisions for covered and air-sealed spaces, where the odour producing activities will take place. The great majority produce less odour than an average Dairy or intensive Chicken rearing farm.

As in all walks of life, some people do fail to run their biogas facilities in a responsible manner, and there are regulations against causing odour nuisance which will always need to be policed alongside other environmental protection legislation. Commercial scale AD Plants in the UK, and in most other jurisdictions too, are subject to permitting requirements, and if these are not met, bodies like the UK Environment Agency have powers to close down the AD facility if an odour-nuisance persists.

Odour that is produced by the AD process, can and must be contained and the ventilated air is filtered to remove any odour, before it is blown out through the ventilation system. The technology is routinely available for this, and when correctly applied, the view of many people is that anaerobic digestion plants don't smell. In truth, they routinely create less odour than the farmyard next door.

For any resident who is concerned about a new AD plant planning application being approved, due to their concerns about smells, we would suggest that they conduct some fairly simple research. Find out where there are already biogas plants in your area, and make a visit. Go, get out of your car for a minute, draw a deep breath, and stand on the public roadside, and draw in the air, and smell for yourself.

In my area there are already 4 anaerobic digestion plants within a mile and a half, of where I live and they are all two or more years old, but I have never smelled them outside of the property where each is located. When I have been detected a suspicious odour I have found that the offending odour was in fact the result of general farming activities and not the AD plant.

Conclusion

The anaerobic digestion process has a bad smell, but as long as it is kept sealed in by good practices in the operation of the leachate plant, or other waste disposal method, provided at sanitary landfills, there is no reason for the AD Facility to produce an unpleasant odour.

Visit the Anaerobic Digestion Community web site, for the growing buzz around biogas digesters.