Microscopic alternative to biofuels
Microscopic alternative to biofuels
By Cristina Jimenez
Published: December 27 2007 19:55 | Last updated: December 27 2007
19:55
Oil from algae, the microscopic plants that produce a green covering
on the surfaces of ponds and neglected outdoor swimming pools, may
soon be filling diesel pumps.
As crude oil has moved towards $100 (€70, £50) a barrel and
sustainable alternatives are sought in a bid to reduce carbon
emissions, researchers are investigating “second- generation”
biofuels – those not made from food crops such as soya or corn.
Scientists have found that, in terms of oil yield, algae could be
the most efficient source of biofuel.
Algae produces oil yields more than 100 times those of common
biofuel crops such as soya, yet requires a fraction of the
cultivation area. For example, one corn crop covering an acre nets
about 81 gallons of ethanol a year, while palm may produce 650
gallons of biofuel. Algae may yield up to 15,000 gallons.
“No other source comes close in magnitude to the potential for
making oil of algae,” says Al Darzins, director of the Research
Center for Biofuels at the National Research Energy Laboratories of
the US Department of Energy.
Researchers at the laboratories have also found they can greatly
increase the amount of oil produced using genetic engineering
techniques. Modified algae can produce oil yields of 60-70 per cent
compared with the 5-20 per cent in oil contents of natural algae.
One of the advantages of sourcing oil from algae is that algal
biodiesel could be used in diesel cars without further modification
of the engine. But for relatively small volumes, bio-ethanol needs
to be blended with petrol unless the vehicles have been adapted.
Biodiesel is also a versatile source of fuel which, Mr Darzin says,
could be used for ships, trains, jet fuel and cars.
This month Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s biggest oil company, became
the latest business to put its faith in algae, announcing that it
hopes to build a commercial research plant which it believes will
produce biodiesel from algae in two years.
It is taking a majority stake in a joint venture, with Hawaii-based
HR Biopetroleum, that will initially build a small research plant
but hopes to move to a full-scale commercial plant of 49,421 acres.
Shell says that algae’s environmental credentials are greatly
superior to those of “first-generation” biofuels. This is because
algae does not need to be grown on farmland and deforested land,
thus minimising the damage to ecological systems. Unlike soya or
corn, it does not add pressure to food prices when grown as a
biofuel.
Obtaining oil from algae is not new. Scientists working in the 1950s
discovered some strains of algae had a very high oil content that
could relatively easily be converted
to fuel.
However, the real barrier to algae taking off as a source of fuel
has been the cost of production. Growing algae in open ponds reduces
cultivation costs but makes it difficult to control the
environmental conditions. The algae can easily get contaminated with
naturally occurring but less efficient strains.
But if algae are grown in closed tanks, the process may end up being
too expensive. “The bottleneck in the process is the expensive
technology required for algae oil production,” says Ralph Simms, a
senior analyst at the International Energy Agency in Brussels.
Growing high concentrations of algae is difficult and the costs of
obtaining oil from it make algae more expensive than other biofuels.
At the moment, bio-ethanol production costs about $2 a litre
compared with the wholesale price of gasoline of $0.45.
“In order to be competitive, algal biofuel costs should be cut down
to less than that of the bio-ethanol price,” says Mr Simms.
Don Paul, chief technology officer at Chevron, the US energy company
which is also funding a research programme on algae, thinks the
success of second-generation biofuels depends on collaboration among
industry, universities, research institutions and governments.
Their co-operation will be essential to overcome the technological
and commercial challenges that these products involve.
Shell admitted at the launch of its algae joint venture that it
would be a substantial journey to make algae-based biofuels
commercially viable, and there would need to be technological
innovations along the way.
Even then, it added, the economics of algae-based biodiesel would
probably have to be supported by tax breaks or incentives that
reflected its superior environmental impact compared with first-
generation biofuels.
For the moment, algae oil output remains small, with the largest
production volume at a few hundred gallons a year, claimed by
several US start-up companies working on this technology.
But as the oil majors and clean technology companies race to
discover the technological breakthrough, the days of algae oil may
soon be on us.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/95de5afa-b4a3-11dc-990a-0000779fd2ac.html
