AlgaePARC biorefinery
René Wijffels, Michel Eppink, Maria Barbosa
@ReneWijffels
Contents
 Technical and economical
feasibility
 Process
● Photobioreactors
● Lipids
● Biorefinery
 Projects
● AlgaePARC
● AlgaePARC biorefinery
● SPLASH
● FUEL4ME
● MIRACLES
Can algae replace commodities of today?
 European market:
● Fossil fuels:
400
● Polymers and chemicals: 100
● Palm oil:
7
● Soy:
8
 Global microalgae market today:
● < 10,000 tonnes/year
Mtonnes/year
Mtonnes/year
Mtonnes/year
Mtonnes/year
Develop this process
is a sustainable and
economical way
within the next 10 15 years
To develop a more
sustainable and
economically feasible
process, all biomass
components should be
used
From basic to applied research
 Resources
● Efficient use of sunlight
● Reduction of energy input
● Use of residual nutrients
 Strains
● Lipid accumulation
● Metabolic Engineering
 Implementation
● Scale-up
● Biorefinery
● Design scenarios/LCA’s
Photobioreactor design
Antenna size mutants

Wild type cells
● Cells
oversaturated:
heat dissipation
Tim de Mooij

Antenna size mutants
● Light-saturation at
higher light intensity
● Less energy wasted.
Turbidostat
Behaviour during day/night cycles
Lenneke de Winter
• The aim of this research is to obtain more knowledge in the circadian behaviour
of the cell cycle of lipid producing microalgae grown in photobioreactors. This
will provide ways to optimize the current production process under outdoor
day/night cycles.
• Neochloris oleoabundans is grown in a lab-scale photobioreactor under
simulated outdoor conditions.
• The circadian rhythm of the cell cycle is analysed using flow cytometry.
• In addition, cell composition (lipids, starch, proteins) during the cell cycle is
investigated.
Lipids
e
e
e
Lipid accumulation
N+
N-
Breuer G., Lamers P.P. , Martens D.E. , Draaisma R.B., Wijffels R.H. (2012) The
impact of nitrogen starvation on the dynamics of triacylglycerol accumulation in
nine microalgae strains. Bioresource Technology 124: 217-226
Genetic engineering
 Lipids
Stefan Aanstoot
● Strain improvement towards a desired
fatty acid profile
● Strain improvement towards a increased
TAG production
 Hydrocarbons
● Botryococcus
● Insert Botryococcus genes for
hydrocarbons in Chlamydomonas
 Mutagenesis and direct gene targeting
approaches
 Transcriptomics to obtain insight in regulation
Lenny de Jaeger
TAG production: process optimization
Breuer et al. 2013
Continuous TAG production
Different light:N ratios
NO3
N- medium
Klok et al. 2013
Anne Klok
Richard Postma
Proteins from Green Sources
 Development of a mild, continuous, scalable disruption
and protein extraction technology with minimal energy
requirements
Soluble
Insoluble
--
Disruption
Bead-milling (reference method)
Enzymatic
Pulsed Electronic Field
--
Extraction
Ionic liquid
Polymer precipitation
Ultrafiltration
AlgaePARC
 Basic research is not sufficient
 Gap between basic research and
commercial applications
 Continuous interaction between
basic research and pilots
 Follow up in
demonstrations
 Products
 Scale
 Production chain
AlgaePARC
 International centre of applied
research
 Intermediate between basic
research and applications
 Development of competitive
technology (economics,
sustainability)
 Acquire information for full
scale plants
 Algal biomass for food, feed,
chemicals and fuels
Scenario: Lipids + Biogas energy
Scenedesmus: €600/T
Cost of production: €500/T
Scenario: Lipid & protein biorefinery
Microalgae
Lipid fraction
Defatted algae
Unsaponifiables
Saponifiables
Proteins
Saturated
FA
Unsaturated FA
Waxes
Antioxidants
Functional
proteins
Biolubricants
Food supp. /
Industrial oil
Coatings
Food
supplements
Processed food
Nannochloropsis: €8,000/T
Cost of production: €500/T
Algae pulp
Nutritional
proteins
Animal feed
Biodegradable
plastics
Protein
supplements
AlgaePARC biorefinery
 Fractionate all components
 Maintain their functionality
 At low energy input
EU-FP7 projects
 INTESUSAL: demonstration
project Portugal
 ALGADISK: biofilmreactor; pilot
Spain
 FUEL4ME: biofuel project with
pilots in Israël, Italy, Spain and
Netherlands
 SPLASH: biomaterials project with
pilots in Spain and Netherlands
 MIRACLES: biorefinery project for
food and feed applications with
pilots in Norway, Chile,
Netherlands and Spain
Education


Primary school
High schools
● Design challenge and practical kit

BSc
● Physiology and process design

MSc
● Bioreactor design

PhD
● Designing of microalgae-based production
processes, for research and commercial
purposes
● Next edition: June 2014
Algae for commodities
 Demonstrate that biobased
products have the quality to
replace existing products
 Convince we can produce
economically in the future
 Imagine we can reach the
right market volumes
 Create awareness: it is not
going to be easy
 Join forces
 Create a long term
commitment
www.AlgaePARC.com
Rene.Wijffels@wur.nl
@ReneWijffels