ABO Blog

The Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation is offering a workshop (May 6-10) for those interested in algae cultivation operations.

This workshop covers the fundamentals of managing microalgae cultures, culturing techniques, measuring biomass, high-value natural products, harvesting and processing technologies, as well as life cycle analysis and operation at the commercial scale. Topics presented are relevant to those interested in obtaining a broad overview on the biology, growth and commercialization of microalgae.

For more information this and other workshops visit:  www.atp3.org.

Using crops to produce biofuels always raises questions about how much land will be required, and if there will be a significant displacement of land used for food crops. A new study from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) finds that the United States has ample land to grow algae for biofuels—and interference with food crops may not be required.

Ian Brenam has the story at Scientific American, and leads with PNNL’s finding that 14 percent of U.S. land could support algae cultivation. Given algae’s high yields that’s more than enough to replace a significant portion of the petroleum fuels we use each year.

One relevant excerpt cites Dr. Stephen Mayfield, the director of the University of California, San Diego’s Algae Center for Biotechnology on why much of the land used for algae cultivation likely won’t interfere with traditional agriculture:

“Mayfield said there is tons of agricultural land sitting idle because it has been “salted out” of production. These unproductive lands would be more valuable holding algae facilities, and Mayfield cites California’s Imperial Valley as a good site for algae ponds since its only current use is storing agricultural runoff, and algae can grow in both ocean and wastewater.”

California may not have the cheapest real estate, but PNNL identified plenty of regions with the right climate, geography and economy that would give algae cultivators an advantage.

As for the challenge of building the infrastructure necessary to support large scale algae farming, Brenam includes this quote from Dr. Mayfield that should diminish any misgivings:

“There was no petroleum industry in 1900,” said Mayfield, “we needed energy, so we built it.”

Read more at Scientific American.

What do you get with continuous cultivation of algae and breakthrough processing technology? From Sapphire Energy you get renewable Green Crude oil. Sapphire has been among the companies leading the charge to coax algae into renewable biofuel production and today they announced a deal with Tesoro, a major refiner and marketer of petroleum products. Tesoro has agreed to purchase Green Crude from Sapphire’s algae farm in Columbus, NM—one of the first deals of its kind.

The goal of filling our tanks with renewable oil is another step closer.

Sapphire’s Green Crude can be refined into a range of products you can also get from petroleum. Gasoline, jet fuel, diesel; they are all possible from renewable algae grown in ponds that never run dry—unlike wells drilled into the ground.

More details about the deal, and Sapphire’s innovative wet extraction method for processing algae into crude oil, can be found at Biodiesel Magazine.