Evolution of Energy

Continental Airlines became the first U.S. commercial carrier to conduct a demonstration flight powered in part by alternative fuels.  One engine was fueled by a mixture of half algae-based biofuel and traditional jet fuel, the other was fueled solely by jet fuel.  The general manager of UOP, a biofuels producer, succinctly sums up the problem.  “There isn’t enough sustainable feedstock at the right price point to able to be competitive with petroleum.”  Read more here.

Researchers at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee are developing bioreactors for bacteria growth for biofuel production.  With higher growth rates than microlagae, bacteria could prove to be a more viable solution for the production of a lipid feestock.  The prime challenge I envision is dewatering of the biomass, given that bacteria significantly smaller than microalage it may prove to be more costly.  However, bacteria are used quite extensively for wastwater treatement so likely there will be existing dewatering solutions that can be leveraged.  Read more here.

Valero has followed other oil companies in beginning to stake their claim in the nascent algae-based biofuels. Valero has invested an undisclosed amount in Colorado based Solix biofuels. Solix’s system is able to utilize CO2 emissions from power plants. Read more here. Solix Biofuels

Relying upon existing processes and traditional feedstocks for biofuel production may not result in large enough supply to replace any significant amount of petroleum based fuels. This is increasingly so as arable land becomes more and more scarce and politically creating fuels rather than food becomes undesirable. However, perhaps the solution will be found in technology; specifically, synthetic biology. Synthetic biology takes the smallest elements of life DNA to construct altered or custom microorganisms. These custom microorganisms can be used to decrease costs and increase efficiencies in biofuel production. Read more here.

Numerous start-ups are researching and beginning pilot plants to determine the viability and profitability of algae based biodiesel. Many production factors need to be figured out before this can be a long-term solution. Two large factors are bioreactor production limits due to light requirements and cost of processing (harvesting, drying, extraction). Read more here.