Growing and Converting Aquatic Growing and Converting Aquatic Biomass for Fuel PrecursorsBiomass for Fuel Precursors

Robert S. WeberRobert S. WeberSunrise Ridge AlgaeSunrise Ridge Algae

Growing and Converting Aquatic Growing and Converting Aquatic Biomass for Fuel PrecursorsBiomass for Fuel Precursors

Robert S. WeberRobert S. WeberSunrise Ridge AlgaeSunrise Ridge Algae

AAAS Annual Meeting19 February 2010

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SRA’s is pursuing a heterodox approach to renewable fuels from aquatic biomass.

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We have rapidly recapitulated the ontogeny of each of the past 4 waves of industrial algae production— We project that water availability will be a weak link in the

value chain and are engineering accordingly.— We have resolved to manage an ecosystem not a

monoculture.— We recognize that co-products must exhibit a scalability

commensurate with the fuels market.— We seek an integration with other industries to reuse

existing facilities and to gain access to cheap (free?) feed streams.

— We have devised a new approach that accommodates our understanding of these issues.

Given the large markets and large growing areas required, we recognize that solutions will span a spectrum of technologies

Given the justifiable conservatism of the oil industry, we would be glad to be “first to be second”

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Who we are

Private Texas corporation engaged in R&D and commercialization of algae biomass technology reduction of water &

greenhouse gas pollutants production of renewable fuel,

feedstocks and animal feeds. Own and operate pilot

production facility in Katy, Texas.

Collaboration with UT UTEX (Prof. Jerry Brand) CAE (Prof. Jerry Kinney) SRP (Prof. Frank Siebert)

Collaboration with UH Prof. Mike Harold

Funded by Private investment Current grant from Texas

Emerging Technology Fund (extension pending)

Sales of services DOE contract to design

scaled system

Funded by Private investment Current grant from Texas

Emerging Technology Fund (extension pending)

Sales of services DOE contract to design

scaled system3

Introduction to SRA

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The problem we are addressing: Need for 3rd Generation Biofuels

Flat petroleum supply while world demand is increasing Multiple shocks expected over next 15-20 years

Major concerns about greenhouse gases and climate change Restrictions and taxes on CO2 emission

1st Generation biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel) fail compete with food and are not scalable not 100% compatible with infrastructure

Cellulosic feedstocks are very water intensive.

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Introduction to SRA

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Our Approach– Integrate Aquatic Biomass with Industry Identify and secure attractive site

CO2, land, waste water, waste heat Target: Cement, refinery, chemical, power plants Negotiate co-venture with site owner, investors; long-term

Grow and harvest aquatic biomass Using 6th generation SRA technology for algae inter alia Consume waste CO2 and waste water Low cost, while managing temperature, nutrients and flow for yield

Convert aquatic biomass to oil and char Using patent pending SRA technology Low-cost, uses waste heat Oil is sold to petroleum refiners Char is used in cement production or as soil conditioner Avoids glut of likely unsaleable co-products

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Introduction to SRA

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Once-upon-a-time, we liked algae-derived fuels and we still have a fondness for them…

Promise biodiesel – high energy content

Potentially compatible with existing fuel infrastructure

Potentially scalable

Don’t compete with food

Do not require arable land

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Introduction to SRA

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Our first pilot plant was located at Hornsby Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant, Austin, TX…

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Introduction to SRA

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… where we devised production-scale helioreactors and protocols for harvesting algae.

Each contains, 25,000 L and has 90 m2 of solar area

Each produces about 1-3 kg algae per week

Low productivity (5 g/m2/day; 0.1 g/L) ascribed to intermittent supply of CO2.

Technology applicable to other sites, including CAFOs and industrial facilities.

25,000 L Boomer™ production scale algae greenhouse (left)

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Introduction to SRA

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We are working through a staged scale up

Expansion Site

First Commercial

Site

Semi-Works

Project

PilotProject

Lab

~0.1 acre ~30 acre ~600 acre ~6000 acre0.00001 acre

500 K$ 5-10M$ 50 - 100 M$ 200-500 M$?

2009 2010 2011 2013

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Introduction to SRA

1 L/day 6 bbl/day 600 bbl/day 6000 bbl/day

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What is different about this, the 4th, 30-year cycle of biofuels since 1920?

- The goal is still renewable fuels at economic par with petrofuels, without additional externalities.- The “Standard” Model has challenges at full scale, particularly if

it relies on protein co-products to sustain its economics.

- We are doubtful that genetic engineering will have the needed impact.

- We believe that our recently developed catalyzed thermolysis will obviate the need to overproduce lipids.

- We expect that integration with the existing industrial ecology will be part of the solution.

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Topics to be addressed today

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The “Standard Model” has challenges at full scale

Select or engineer algae to produce high lipids

Monocultures of GM algae are not robust.

Grow and harvest the algae Costs are high: sterilization, delivery of CO2, other nutrients and controls

Components of the Standard ModelComponents of the Standard Model IssuesIssues

Sell non-lipid fraction into animal feed markets.

Feed market is not commensurate with full scale fuel production.

Triglyceride intermediate is a bottleneck; biodiesel is not a fungible fuel

Extract the lipids and make biodiesel.

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The beat of a different drummer

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The “Standard Model” has challenges at full scale

Select or engineer algae to produce high lipids

Monocultures of GM algae are not robust.

Grow and harvest the algae Costs are high: sterilization, delivery of CO2, other nutrients and controls

Components of the Standard ModelComponents of the Standard Model IssuesIssues

Sell non-lipid fraction into animal feed markets.

Feed market is not commensurate with full scale fuel production.

Triglyceride intermediate is a bottleneck; biodiesel is not a fungible fuel

Extract the lipids and make biodiesel.

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The beat of a different drummer

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The feed market is not commensurate with the fuel market.

Material US Consumption rate/T d-1

Crude petroleum 3.3 × 106

Animal Feed 3.4 × 105

Algae-derived feed available if algae were used to provide 100% of US oil use, at 10% lipids

3.0 × 107

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Our Conclusion: if you are going to grow fuel, then grow fuel.

So the market price for feed will likely collapse when algae-to-fuel/feed supplies as little as 1% of the US market for fuel.

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The “Standard Model” has challenges at full scale

Select or engineer algae to produce high lipids

Monocultures of GM algae are not robust.

Grow and harvest the algae Costs are high: sterilization, delivery of CO2, other nutrients and controls

Components of the Standard ModelComponents of the Standard Model IssuesIssues

Sell non-lipid fraction into animal feed markets.

Feed market is not commensurate with full scale fuel production.

Triglyceride intermediate is a bottleneck; biodiesel is not a fungible fuel

Extract the lipids and make biodiesel.

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The beat of a different drummer

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It is unclear that genetic modification will assist materially.

The immense scale of fuel-growing precludes sterilization and exclusion of competing species

Modifications that enhance production of exported energy molecules divert metabolic energy and therefore: Diminish the fitness of the organism Creates a locus for natural selection May attract dysbionts.

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Is GM is the answer?

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Can GM organisms compete against wild algae?

A 1000 L algal inoculation at a concentration of 0.5 g/L contains approximately 2.4×1013 cells.

Wild algae, e.g., Chlorella sp. double about twice per day. As a surrogate for a high fat GM alga, consider, B. braunii, which

contains roughly 50wt% oil, and doubles about once every 3 days If a helioreactor were charged with such a high concentration

inoculum of that GM alga plus a single, viable cell of a wild alga then tovertake ≈ 1 month:

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Is GM the answer? 2

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Can GM organisms maintain their engineered characteristics for economically useful periods?

Organism Genome size µb µg

Bacteriophage M13 6.4 × 103 7.2 × 10-7 0.0046

Bacteriophage λ 4.9 × 104 7.7 × 10-8 0.0038

Bacteriophages T2, T4 1.7 × 105 2.4 × 10-8 0.0040

E. coli 4.6 ×106 5.4 × 10-10 0.0025

S. cerevisiae 1.2 × 107 2.2 × 10-10 0.0037

N. crassa 4.2 × 107 7.2 × 10-11 0.0030

Arabidopsis thaliana 1.1× 108 7 × 10-9 0.77

Mean 0.0034

Mutation rates per genome per replication in microbes with DNA chromosomes

Drake, et al., Genetics, 1998, 148, 1667-1686

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Is GM the answer? 3

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An ecology is likely to better withstand viruses and other dysbionts than is a monoculture.

Algae are susceptible to viruses, bacterial infection and predators— The boundary layer at tank walls and recirculation zones in

the fluid flow can act as incubators— Diverting metabolic pathways towards exported energy

products likely diminishes infection defenses Leakage of high energy products may attract or

nourish malevolent bacteria or predators

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No, GM is likely not the answer

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An ecology can provide services that are suppressed in attempts to raise a monoculture.

Mixtures of algae can provide “immunity of the herd” Mixtures of algae can span weather variations Ecologies can contain predators of predators Eubiotic bacteria can provide nutrients and recycle

nutrients Mixtures of algae can be easier to harvest

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It takes an ecology…

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Produce crude oil that is feedstock flexible, water sparing and that integrates well with industry.

Thermolysis of proteinaceous biomass is different from pyrolysis of cellulosic biomass

Thermolysis broadens the available feedstocks and harvesting technologies.

Combinations of feedstocks may address the issue of limited water availability

Catalyzed thermolysis can exploit available waste heat, affording opportunities for integration and CO₂ avoidance.

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Our Approach

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Our catalyzed thermolysis converts low lipid biomass into bioleum, a high energy density crude.

Characteristics of Bioleum

Produced in a flow reactor at moderate temperatures (<450°C) and atmospheric pressure

Yields of ~25wt% from algae that contain <5wt% lipids. Captures ~50% of the heating value of the input algae Product is high in N but low in P and S; Appear to us to

be processable in a conventional refinery along with VGO

Material HHV/MJ kg-1

Crude petroleum 45-48

Jet fuel (minimum) 43

Refined biodiesel 38

Algae-derived bioleum 36

Cellulose-derived py-oil 13-18

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So, if you are going to grow fuel, then grow fuel.

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Thermolysis permits us to use other types of aquatic plant, e.g., the lemnaceae.

25 Sept 2009 26 Sept 2009 27 Sept 2009

Lemnaceae (duckweed) include many native speciesThey grow rapidly, doubling in about 1.5 day (algae can double twice per day)Like algae, they denutrify the water.They are macroscopic and thus easy to harvest.Areal growth rates >150 dryT/hectare/year (=0.3 bbl/hectare/day)

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Shifting the paradigm, permits shifting the crop too.

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Other types of biomass may be part of an approach that addresses the limited availability of water.Feedstock Areal yield

bbl h-1y-1

“Blue” Water intensityc

L L-1

Vegetable oil ex soybeans 2a 6155

Pyrolysis oil ex wood 2b 2600

Algaed 300 100-1000?

Bioleum ex lemna (est.)e 60 −400?

a) estimated from yield published in http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/ID/ID-337.pdfb)Estimated from irrigation requirements and areal forestry yields in R. J. Zomer, et al., http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/IWMI_Research_Reports/PDF/PUB122/RR122.pdf, and published yields of pyrolysis oil yields of green” dieselc) Irrigation water; W. Gerbens-Leenes, AY. Hoekstra and T. H. van der Meer, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 2009, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0812619106d) Weyer, et al., Theoretical maximum algal oil production, Bioenergy Research, 2009, DOI 10.1007/s12155-009-9046-xe) assumes treatment that permits total recycle of the growing water omits evaporative “green” water F. A. Agblevor and S. Besler-Guran, Fuel Chemistry Division Preprints 2002, 47(1), 374;

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Water availability: The problem that is looming

Fluid US consumption/L day-1

Petroleum (20 million bbl/day) 10

Water (410 Bgal/day) 5000

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Integrated Production is needed to control costs and provide maximum environmental benefits

Species + Nutrients

WasteWater

AquaticBiomass

Farm

Separations &

Processing

Waste Treatment

Product Logistics

VentedCO2

Focus of SRA

Services from Industrial partnerWaste

Heat

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Shifting the paradigm facilitates process integration

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Integration with a Cement plant

Stack & Baghouse

Fuel

Kiln GrindingCementLogistics

Limestone Mining

CO2 Emission

Water Discharge

Cement manufacturing creates about 0.9 T CO2 per ton of cement along with copious quantities of waste heat.

Cement sells for ~$90/T; CO2 credits on the European market have ranged between €10-€35/T so inside-the-fence CO2 offsets should be cost effective

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One form of integration

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Integration with a Cement plant

Stack & Baghouse

Fuel

KilnCementLogistics

Limestone Mining

CO2 Emission

Water DischargeAlgae Farm

Algae Harvest

H2O

Oil SalesFlue gas at 200-400°C

CO2

Grinding

Heat Exchange

AlgaeConversion

Wet Algae

Char

Waste Water

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What integration might look like

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Initial Market – Cement Plants

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Now, where can we find cement plants near an off-taker of bioleum?

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More information

Sunrise Ridge Algae Inc. www.sunrise-ridge.com CTO Bob Weber 211 Seaton Glen, Suite 109 Houston, TX 77094 617-388-9290 bob.weber@sunrise-ridge.com

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