Middlebury College
Environmental Council Sustainability Grants Proposal ’07 -‘08
Proposal Cover Sheet
Date: 11-30-07
Project Title:
Biodiesel from Microalgae: An Integrated Strategy for Wastewater Treatment and Carbon
Dioxide Mitigation
Brief Description (3-4 sentences):
This project seeks to develop an economically feasible microalgae bioreactor that accomplishes
wastewater treatment with concomitant liquid biofuel production using municipal and
agricultural waste streams.
Amount Requested: $1950
Primary Contact (Name, email, telephone, address):
Bobby Levine
rlevine@middlebury.edu
802-443-6807 or 847-707-8433
3488 Middlebury College Box
Project Collaborators:
__Robert Levine______________
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__Robert Levine________
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Environmental Council Sustainability Grants Proposal ’07 - ‘08
Full Name(s) of Proposers: Robert Levine
Email Addresses and phone numbers: rlevine@middlebury.edu (x6807)
Name of Project: Biodiesel from Microalgae: An Integrated Strategy for Wastewater Treatment
and Carbon Dioxide Mitigation
Project Description. If applicable, please highlight any collaborative or innovative aspects of
your proposal (use back or second page if more space needed):
Today there is broad scientific consensus that human activities have altered our climate.
Experts are more certain than ever that increases in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations
have caused a rise in global average temperatures, which have and will continue to lead to
substantial environmental, social, and economic consequences. Mitigating these repercussions
will demand sizeable reductions in carbon emissions that can be achieved only if conscientious
action is taken now to change how our society produces its energy and processes its wastes.
Indeed, one of the most promising approaches to this critical problem, which is the focus of this
project, is the conversion of waste into energy.
Waste and more specifically wastewater are rarely conceived to have value and normally
represent significant environmental and economic costs to society. Nevertheless, with a novel
approach to wastewater treatment, this project seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of creating a
high-value liquid biofuel (i.e. biodiesel) from agricultural and municipal wastewaters. Currently,
wastewater treatment is problematic for a variety of reasons. First, agricultural wastewaters from
dairy operations, high in nitrogen and phosphorous, expel methane from holding lagoons and
when applied to fields often leach into nearby streams and lakes, causing eutrophication.
Likewise, municipal wastewaters are currently treated using very energy intensive processes and
still result in the discharge of nutrient rich waters into our waterways. These issues are
particularly acute here in the Champlain Valley, where intensive farming and dairy operations
have led to explosive algal growth in Lake Champlain.
Combining the need to treat wastewater with the importance of reducing carbon
emissions is the goal of this project. The system functions in a stepwise fashion. First, manure
is treated with anaerobic digestion to capture natural gas which can be combusted to produce
electricity and heat for the farm. This component is already in place at several local farms, two
of which have offered to cooperate on this project (Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport and Bob
Foster’s Farm here in Middlebury). Next, the digester effluent, which is a slurry rich in nitrogen
and phosphorous, is fed into a photobioreactor, a device for growing algae. The algae absorb the
nitrogen and phosphorous as they grow, along with the CO2 emissions from the digester and the
combusted natural gas. Finally, the algae biomass is harvested and converted into a liquid
biofuel, such as biodiesel. Biodiesel is an excellent candidate because it can be used in any
diesel engine with no modifications.
This idea is not new and neither is my research effort. I began work on this project in
spring 2007 under the guidance of Professor Spatafora. I have studied promising algae strains
that have appropriately high lipid contents for biodiesel production, and I have designed, tested,
and operated a novel bioreactor for large-scale cultivation of algal biomass. This semester I will
be working with Professor Oster to analyze the chemistry of the biomass to biodiesel conversion
process, while continuing work on the optimization of the reactor. Furthermore, in cooperation
with two local farms, I want to model how this system would actually work in conjunction with
their currently installed anaerobic digesters. A pilot scale facility this coming spring would
hopefully produce enough biodiesel to run farm machinery, thereby demonstrating the validity of
this technology.
This independent project is the antecedent to my Senior Honors Thesis in the spring.
While I look forward to a year of challenging research and fascinating discoveries, I also
recognize that I am graduating this year and need to develop future leadership in this area. To
that end, I will be seeking out interested students, such as Jacqui Parker and Chester Harvey,
who may continue this research next year.
Algae bioreactor with dense green algae culture.
Timeline for implementation of project (start and end date):
Continuing with current project. No end in sight!
Budget and amount to be requested (please provide a detailed line-item budget showing
anticipated expenses and any other revenues from other sources and/or in-kind labor, materials,
etc..):
This budget will support the continued research of the lipid extraction process and the costs
inherent with scaling up the system for on-farm pilot units this spring. Demonstrating the
feasibility of this system in a real-world setting is essential to its success.
Item
6 mil extruded polyethylene
plastic bags (500' x 24")
Total
$200
Reactor Materials (wooden
dowels, bulkhead fittings,
piping)
Air pumps
Gas cylinders with regulators,
air filters, and tubing
Transportation to field sites
Analysis (reagents, equipment)
TOTAL
$500
$500
$500
$50
$200
$1950
Additional funding will be sought from the Biology department in the spring and I recently
submitted a proposal to the Chill Out campus climate challenge (NFS).
Currently I have $1500 from the Senior Research Fellowship, of which roughly $700 has been
spent.
Brief rationale of how this will advance the College’s sustainability leadership:
The future of transportation fuels rests on the development of a suitable feedstock for the
production of liquid biofuels. Corn-based ethanol and oilseed based biodiesel do not have a
future has ustainable sources of biofuels, and the successful development of an algae feedstock
would dramatically reduce the impact on climate change currently affected by the transportation
sector. The College, which burns over 200,000 gallons of diesel annually, is a ready recipient of
the biodiesel produced by algae. This would demonstrate the College’s commitment to carbon
neutrality through its ability to produce its own energy.
Please send this form to Jack Byrne, Campus Sustainability Coordinator, via email at
jmbyrne@middlebury.edu, or by campus mail to 531 Hillcrest #109 no later than midnight
November 30, 2007 . Proposals can range from $25 up to $2,500. For more info call x 5043.