Algae Biomass for Biofuel Production
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PROBLEM Biofuels that are drop-in replacements for oil often need large tracts of agricultural land.
PROJECT Kuehnle AgroSystems is building a system to continuously produce algae for biofuels; the system will pipe CO2 and wastewater from an industrial facility into the algae tanks to accelerate algae growth and demonstrate CO2 emission reductions.
AWARD $662,940 (HREDV 75%, private 25%)
LOCATION Kapolei, Oahu
PARTNERS
- Chevron Refinery
- BioProcess Algae
To transition algae biomass as a sustainable oil source for Hawaii and the nation’s customers including the Department of Defense, it is essential to document scalable capability to link production of energy crop biomass with low cost, regional inputs and link such biomass with a suitable conversion process to produce biofuels.
Physical linkage of these elements at one industrial site, for feasibility R&D with associated cost analyses, will advance the technical state-of-the-art towards commercial application of microalgae to decrease our dependency on overseas fossil fuel. This new energy crop has received much national attention, but on-the-ground demonstration of the value chain from algae biomass to biofuels is sorely lacking in Hawaii. Kuehnle AgroSystems (KAS), as a biomass seedstock provider with collaborations for hardware used in biomass production and demonstrated oil conversion, is positioned to meet this goal. This project consists of two objectives:
1. Industrial site preparation and installation to establish technology linkage.
- Design and install linkage of industrial CO2 and wastewater effluent streams with advanced bioreactors to grow biomass.
- Run batch trials to show effluent conversion to biomass using high performance microalgae.
- Demonstrate compliance with safety and code requirements.
2. Test and evaluate continuous operation for biomass production.
- Verify operability of the unit and its subcomponents in a long duration (>1000 hrs) test program.
- Estimate production costs of gas and water effluent streams from a petroleum refinery with associated energy inputs for reactor operation, with outputs of algae biomass at high productivity above 60 gDW per sq meter to use in cost projections for commercial scale construction.
Collaborating with Bioprocess Algae and a local refinery committed to being a part of renewable energy’s future, KAS’s business of algae seedstock and biomass production in Hawaii will be greatly accelerated by this project. This project builds upon the KAS pilot-scale plant at its R&D facility in Honolulu. That site simulates the important parameters of carbon dioxide and nutrient conversion into biomass by systematically investigating operating conditions in up to 600 L unit capacities.
This project will collect critical technical/engineering and cost data that directly impacts design for scaling of commercial units. Moreover, the overall broader commercial potential of the project will be enhanced through linkage with a Navy-funded STTR Phase II project to convert the biomass to biodiesel using a proprietary technology. KAS is already making fuel using this technology. Dovetailing the HREDV project with such other projects and with strategic partnerships in the next phase will enable an end-to-end pilot process. This project is consistent with DOE portfolio priorities in development of advanced algal biofuels and demonstration of integrated biorefinery operations.
At the HREDV Tech Enterprise 2010 Conference, Adelheid Kuehnle of Kuehnle AgroSystems speaks about the “Algae Biomass for Biofuel Production” funded by HREDV.