Research into creating algal biofuels out of thin air

Producing sustainable biofuels with microalgae has gained widespread interest, with projections that these microscopic aquatic plants could contribute significantly to future oil production in the United States.



PNNL's Marine Sciences Laboratory, located on Sequim Bay in Washington's Puget Sound.

However, such concentrated CO2 sources are generally not co-located where water, land, sunlight, and temperatures are optimal for achieving microalgae's production potential. In addition, the costs to transfer CO2 from power plants or other sources to algal cultivation systems are high.

Might it be possible to cultivate microalgae at high productivity with just the CO2 found in air? Researchers in Pacific Northwest National Laboratories's Coastal Sciences division will be partnering with Micro BioEngineering, Inc. to pursue this concept over the next two years through a recently awarded $900,000 grant from DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office.

Research at PNNL's Marine Sciences Laboratory in Sequim, Wash. and MicroBio Engineering, Inc. in San Luis Obispo, Cal. will use a combination of physical, chemical, and biological manipulations to maximize the transfer of CO2 from air into algal pond cultures. This process, called AlgaeAirFix, will be compared with baseline of productivities achieved with concentrated sources of CO2.

The goal of this research is to demonstrate the possibility of meeting DOE microalgae biofuel program goals to produce up to 2,500 gallons of algal oil a year without depending on power plant or other such point sources of CO2.

The US Department of Energy's Energy Department's Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) has selected seven projects across the country to receive up to $10 million to support innovative technologies and solutions to help advance bioenergy development.

These projects will support BETO's work to develop renewable and cost-competitive biofuels from non-food biomass feedstocks by reducing the risk associated with potentially breakthrough approaches and technologies.

The selected projects are: