Fueling the Future: Biofuels
for Economic Development
and National Security
Solar
bioreactor
microalgae
oil
Biofuels Initiative
Utah State University
July 29, 2008
biodiesel
World Energy Challenge
• “The supply of secure, clean,
sustainable energy is arguably the
most important scientific and technical
challenge facing humanity in the 21st
century.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (2006) 103, 15729
• Present technology cannot meet our
needs for sustainable, greenhouse
neutral energy.
Global Energy Consumption
N.S. Lewis 2004
WORLD ENERGY SUPPLY & DEMAND
Looming Energy Crises
Oil Reserves
Saudi Arabia
Canada
Iran
Iraq
Kuwait
U.A.E.
Venezuela
Russia
Libya
3%
Nigeria 2%
U.S.
2%
21%
14%
10%
9%
8%
8%
6%
5%
Annual Consumption
U.S.
Japan
China
Germany
Russia
India
Canada
Brazil
S. Korea
France
Mexico
0%
25%
7%
7%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
3%
The United States uses
more oil than the next
five highest-consuming
nations combined.
5%
Source: International Energy Annual 2003 (EIA)
10%
15%
20%
25%
Now
Supply
Demand
Time
World Oil Supply & Demand: The real issue is when will
production be insufficient to cover demand? That largely
depends on demand, not on reserves.
Production Cost of Electricity
(in the U.S. in 2002)
25-50 ¢
1-4
¢
2.3-5.0 ¢ 6-8
¢
5-7 5-7¢
¢
N.S. Lewis 2004
6-7 ¢
THE MAJOR ENERGY ISSUES
 Depletion of fossil fuel energy
resources
 Majority of petroleum resources
controlled by unfriendly nations
 Degradation of the natural environment
through the energy conversion
processes
 Affordability and reliability of future
energy resources
Global Energy Resources
I) Need
13 TW/year today
26 TW/year by 2050
39 TW/year by 2100
II) Resources (C neutral)
1) Fossil Fuel/Carbon Capture
-25 billion metric tons of CO2/year
-Volume of Lake Superior
2) Nuclear
-10 TW/year requires 1 new GW fission plant every day for 50 years
-Terrestrial uranium would be exhausted in 10 years
-Fusion – no sooner than 2040
3) Renewable
-Hydroelectric 0.5 TW maximum (UN estimates)
-Tides and oceans <2 TW/year maximum
-Geothermal 12 TW/year (but only fraction extractable)
-Wind 2-4 TW/year maximum
-Sun 120,000 TW/year (biomass + electricity <2% today)
Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy Utilization
Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on Solar
Energy Utilization, April 18-21, 2005, DOE
Global Energy Resources
I) Need
13 TW/year today
26 TW/year by 2050
39 TW/year by 2100
II) Resources (C neutral)
More energy
1) Fossil Fuel/Carbon
Capture from the sun
-25 billion
metric tons
CO2/year
strikes
the of
earth
in 1 hour
-Volume of Lake
thanSuperior
all of the energy
2) Nuclear
currently
on the
-10 TW/year
requiresconsumed
1 new GW fission
plant every day for 50 years
planet
in 1beyear!
-Terrestrial uranium
would
exhausted in 10 years
-Fusion – no sooner than 2040
3) Renewable
-Hydroelectric 0.5 TW maximum (UN estimates)
-Tides and oceans <2 TW/year maximum
-Geothermal 12 TW/year (but only fraction extractable)
-Wind 2-4 TW/year maximum
-Sun 120,000 TW/year (biomass + electricity <2% today)
Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy Utilization
Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on Solar
Energy Utilization, April 18-21, 2005, DOE
Solar Thermal
Heat
Electricity
Chemical
Materials and
technical
breakthroughs
needed
Photovoltaic
Electricity
Batteries
Mechanical
Chemical
Reduce cost by
25-50 fold with
new materials
and technology
Photosynthesis
Biomass
Cellulose
Starch
Fats
Other
Ethanol
Methane
Biodiesel
All arable land on Earth
with switchgrass to
displace all fossil fuel
used today
First Generation Renewable Fuel
Biodiesel
Triglycerides
Heat
Alcohol
Base
Glycerol
+
O
O
CH 3
Light
Soybean oil
CO2
Biodiesel
First Generation Renewable Fuel
Biodiesel
Triglycerides
Heat
Alcohol
Base
Glycerol
+
O
O
CH 3
Soybeans = 48 gal oil/acre
Light
CO2
Canola = 140 gal oil/acre
Algae
= 10,000 gal oil/acre
Soybean oil
Biodiesel
Second Generation Renewable Fuel
USU System 2:
Biodiesel from an Algal Solar Bioreactor
Light
and
CO2
Water
Micros
Algae
Oil
Biodiesel
Potential: 200x more oil per acre vs soybeans, low quality land.
USU Goals: Produce biodiesel that is cost competitive by 2009
through strain selection and optimization of system.
Second Generation Renewable Fuel
USU System 2:
Biodiesel from an Algal Solar Bioreactor
Light
and
CO2
140 billion gal of biodiesel would displace
Waterall gasoline and diesel used in the US.
MicrosWould require 12 % of the area of the
Sonora desert using algae.
Algae
Oil
Biodiesel
Potential: 200x more oil per acre vs soybeans, low quality land.
USU Goals: Produce biodiesel that is cost competitive by 2009
through strain selection and optimization of system.
Why Biodiesel
 Direct substitute for petroleum-based
diesel;
 Existing infrastructure for distribution to
market;
 Environmentally cleaner fuel - free of
sulfur and aromatics;
 Reduction in
CO2 emissions;
 Distributed
refineries;
(polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons)
Solar Bioreactors
Algae and Lipids
USU Dried
Algae
USU Algae Lipid
Extract
USU
Biodiesel
USU Phototrophic Organisms
• >40 different phototrophic microbes
including bacteria, cyanobacteria, and
algae.
• Production of a range of products.
•Analytical laboratory for small scale
culture (3 L) and analysis of CO2
capture and conversion to a variety of
products.
•50-100 L scale bioreactors in the
USTAR Phase I Building.
Goal: Order-of-magnitude
improvement in sunlight utilization
Steps in the production of biofuels
Strain
Incubation & Feedstock Harvesting Dewatering Oil Extraction & Oil Conversion
Pretreatment
selection
Culturing Production
&Drying
& Refinement
USU Focus Areas
Incident sunlight
Challenges Being Addressed:
Visible
• Eliminating photosynthetic saturation
Infrared
– Redistribution of visible portion of sunlight over an
UV
order-of-magnitude larger surface area
• Minimizing surface shading
• Converting otherwise-wasted UV/IR portion of solar
spectrum into usable energy streams
• Eliminating biofouling in closed reactors
In passive systems, less than 4%
• Scalable, low-cost reactor designs
of the incident energy in sunlight
is used constructively to grow
algae
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!
For Information
Byard Wood
435-797-2868
byard.wood@usu.edu
Funding
• $6 M over 5 years approved by USTAR Board
(Jan. 2007).
• Three new hires (first hire started Jan. 2007
from the National Renewable Energy Lab).
• Pilot and production scale operations underway.
• Seeking additional funding from NSF, DOE,
and investors.
Strain Collection/Characterization
• More than 30 species of known phototrophs
have been collected and subcultured
– Include species from the aquatic species program
• Approximately 15 species have been grown in
large cultures (5 Liters) for lipid
characterization
– Total yields
– Absorbance Comparisons
– Time of growth
• Lipid quantification underway
Algal Characterization Outcomes
• Compounds vary
– Fatty Acids
– TAGs
– Sterols
– Phytols (branched chain alcohols)
– Straight Chain Alkanes
• Total lipid quantification underway in
second round of experiments
Performance Specifications
achieved to date
50,000 Lumens delivered
50% Efficiency
10 m2 algae illumination area
50 mph operating wind speed
120 mph survival wind speed
60” height
100 lbs. weight
0.1o tracking accuracy
Photobioreactor Results
Up to 300 mol/m2s provided to algae
Low water and
heat loss
PVC headers successful at
producing uniform growth
2 months
continuou
s
operation
w/ no
problems
Lipids and Biodiesel
Technical Definition: Biodiesel, n—
a fuel composed of mono-alkyl
esters of long chain fatty acids
derived from vegetable oils or
animal fats, designated B100, and
meeting the requirements of ASTM
D 6751.
Biodiesel is a direct substitute for
petro-diesel!
Vegetable oil yields
Crop
jatropha
oil palm
peanuts
rapeseed
soybean
US gal/acre
202
635
113
127
48
Algae: Up to 10,000 gal/acre
World Oil
Production Capacity
1990 - 69.4 MMb/day
2002 – 80
2010 – 96.5
2025 - 122
Worldwide refinery capacity is about 85 million barrels per day.
To meet the projected growth it will have to increase by more
than 45 million barrels per day by 2025.