Costs for algae-based fuel currently range from $10 to $100 per gallon, according to systems engineer Ron Pate at Sandia National Laboratories. “The idea [is] bringing algal oil down to $1 or $2 per gallon at a scale of 50 million gallons [190 million liters] per year.”

High cost is a problem throughout the algal biofuels industry. “It’s energy cost to pump the water,” says Craig Harting, chief operating officer for Vancouver-based Global Green Solutions, which is building 100 bioreactors (large plastic devices used to grow algae) at a pilot plant in El Paso, Tex. “It’s capital cost to build bioreactors. It’s the harvesting and extraction process.”

As a result, most companies say they have yet to determine the consumer price tag for algae-derived oil—or to produce much of the stuff—though Wolfson says Solazyme’s goal is $40 to $80 a barrel—competitive with fossil oil.

via Powering Our Automotive Future with–Pond Scum: Scientific American.

Come back soon!

If you haven’t had a look already, we urge you to visit the page.

An extract from the beginning of the article:

Algae fuel, also called algal fuel, oilgae,^[1] algaeoleum or third-generation biofuel,^[2] is a biofuel from algae.

High oil prices, competing demands between foods and other biofuel sources and the world food crisis have ignited interest in algaculture (farming algae) for making vegetable oil, biodiesel,bioethanol, biogasoline, biomethanol, biobutanol and other biofuels. Among algal fuels’ attractive characteristics: they do not affect fresh water resources,^[3] can be produced using ocean andwastewater, and are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment if spilled.^[4][5][6] Algae cost more per pound yet can yield over 30 times more energy per acre than other, second-generation biofuel crops.^{[citation needed]} One biofuels company has claimed that algae can produce more oil in an area the size of a two car garage than a football field of soybeans, because almost the entire algal organism can use sunlight to produce lipids, or oil.^[7] The United States Department of Energy estimates that if algae fuel replaced all the petroleum fuel in the United States, it would require 15,000 square miles (40,000 square kilometers), which is a few thousand square miles larger than Maryland.^[8] This is less than 1/7th the area of corn harvested in the United States in 2000.^[9][10]

During photosynthesis, algae and other photosynthetic organisms capture carbon dioxide and sunlight and convert it into oxygen and biomass. Up to 99% of the carbon dioxide in solution can be converted, which was shown by Weissman and Tillett (1992) in large-scale open-pond systems. The production of biofuels from algae does not reduce atmospheric CO2, because any CO2 taken out of the atmosphere by the Algae is returned when the biofuels are burned. They do however eliminate the introduction of new CO2 by displacing fossil hydrocarbon fuels.

As of 2008, such fuels remain too expensive to replace other commercially available fuels, with the cost of various algae species typically between US$5–10 per Kg.^{[citation needed]} But several companies and government agencies are funding efforts to reduce capital and operating costs and make algae oil production commercially viable.^[11]

Naval Air Systems Command fuels team is gearing up for biofuels flight tests in an F/A-18 Super Hornet at Patuxent River, Md., by next spring or summer, according to NAVAIR’s fuel expert. Rick Kamin, Navy fuels lead, explained that before “biofueling” the plane, the team will first conduct laboratory and rig tests at Pax River, followed by static engine tests with the Super Hornet’s F414 engine on a test stand at the Lynn, Mass., facility of manufacturer General Electric. The static tests will take place “probably in the December-January time frame,” Kamin said.

The NAVAIR fuels team is also getting ready to kick off a similar effort to test and certify biofuels for use on ships.

The plans appear to be quite firm, with definite volume targets:

NAVAIR has asked for 40,000 gallons of JP-5 jet fuel from bio-based feedstocks in a request for proposal (RFP) issued by the Defense Energy Support Center. Initial laboratory analyses and rig testing will consume 1,500 gallons; the static engine tests, 16,500 gallons; and the flight tests, 22,000 gallons. The feedstocks targeted are not used for food.

Kamin said fuels received from the JP-5 RFP may include those made from oils produced by plants such as camelina, jatropha and algae.

They specifically mention algae:

Algae can be grown in vats or ponds under controlled conditions that maximize output and harvesting efficiency. Algae’s oil is produced within individual cells. Oils harvested from the plants are refined into fuel with conventional petroleum refinery processes.

Managing director Andrew Lawson says testing at James Cook University in Townsville suggests for every two tonnes of carbon captured, the MBD technology can produce almost 1 tonne of algae, of which one-third can be made into oil products and two-thirds into meal. With meal sales about $400/tonne (rival soymeal product sells at about $780/tonne) and oil selling at $800/tonne, that equates to about $570 of revenue from each tonne of algae, or more than $250 for each tonne of CO2 captured.

The article touches upon the “competition” between geosequestration and algae based carbon capture technologies:

But Lawson is frustrated that the federal government’s carbon pollution reduction scheme only recognises and supports geosequestration. Why seek to bury it at massive cost and with unproven technology, he asks, when it can be recycled and used to generate a new earnings stream?

To illustrate the point, he says a privately funded, $1.2 billion facility could capture half of Loy Yang’s carbon emissions and generate $740m of meal income a year and $660m of oil income, as well as carbon credits of about $225m, while using just 10MW of energy. It also recycles water.

A carbon capture and storage facility is at least a decade away, would require a government investment of more than $5 billion, require 300MW of power a year and only generate income from carbon credits. The difference in value creation over 20 years is $26.8bn for the MBD technology and minus $2.6bn from CCS.

The information provided in the article about MBD Energy makes it quite interesting to follow going forward:

MBD Energy is in the process of raising about $10m from three cornerstone investors, including an international energy company and a local carbon fund.

Renewable biofuels should also be part of a new energy strategy. Advanced biofuels produced from cellulosic material, such as forest residues, municipal waste or even algae, can play a key role in reducing the vulnerabilities, emissions and costs associated with imported oil, while also providing new economic opportunities for America’s farm communities.

Wonder if “even” should be interpreted as “quite unlikely but perhaps even” or only “even“?

T. Boone Pickens is CEO of BP Capital, and Ted Turner is Chairman of Turner Enterprises Inc.