Fueling the Future: Biofuels for Economic Development and National Security Biofuels Initiative Utah State University July 29, 2008 Solar bioreactor microalgae oil biodiesel

World Energy Challenge “The supply of secure, clean, sustainable energy is arguably the most important scientific and technical challenge facing humanity in the 21 st century.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (2006) 103, Present technology cannot meet our needs for sustainable, greenhouse neutral energy.

Global Energy Consumption N.S. Lewis 2004

WORLD ENERGY SUPPLY & DEMAND Looming Energy Crises Source: International Energy Annual 2003 (EIA) Oil Reserves Annual Consumption 0%10%15%20%5%25% The United States uses more oil than the next five highest-consuming nations combined.

Supply Demand Time Now World Oil Supply & Demand: The real issue is when will production be insufficient to cover demand? That largely depends on demand, not on reserves.

(in the U.S. in 2002) 1-4 ¢ ¢ 6-8 ¢ 5-7 ¢ Production Cost of Electricity 6-7 ¢ ¢ Cost, ¢/kW-hr 5-7¢ N.S. Lewis 2004

THE MAJOR ENERGY ISSUES  Depletion of fossil fuel energy resources  Majority of petroleum resources controlled by unfriendly nations  Degradation of the natural environment through the energy conversion processes  Affordability and reliability of future energy resources

Global Energy Resources I) Need 13 TW/year today 26 TW/year by TW/year by 2100 II) Resources (C neutral) 1) Fossil Fuel/Carbon Capture -25 billion metric tons of CO 2 /year -Volume of Lake Superior 2) Nuclear -10 TW/year requires 1 new GW fission plant every day for 50 years -Terrestrial uranium would be exhausted in 10 years -Fusion – no sooner than ) Renewable -Hydroelectric 0.5 TW maximum (UN estimates) -Tides and oceans <2 TW/year maximum -Geothermal 12 TW/year (but only fraction extractable) -Wind 2-4 TW/year maximum -Sun 120,000 TW/year (biomass + electricity <2% today) Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy Utilization Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on Solar Energy Utilization, April 18-21, 2005, DOE

Global Energy Resources I) Need 13 TW/year today 26 TW/year by TW/year by 2100 II) Resources (C neutral) 1) Fossil Fuel/Carbon Capture -25 billion metric tons of CO 2 /year -Volume of Lake Superior 2) Nuclear -10 TW/year requires 1 new GW fission plant every day for 50 years -Terrestrial uranium would be exhausted in 10 years -Fusion – no sooner than ) Renewable -Hydroelectric 0.5 TW maximum (UN estimates) -Tides and oceans <2 TW/year maximum -Geothermal 12 TW/year (but only fraction extractable) -Wind 2-4 TW/year maximum -Sun 120,000 TW/year (biomass + electricity <2% today) Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy Utilization Report of the Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on Solar Energy Utilization, April 18-21, 2005, DOE More energy from the sun strikes the earth in 1 hour than all of the energy currently consumed on the planet in 1 year!

Solar ThermalPhotovoltaic Photosynthesis  Heat  Electricity  Chemical  Electricity  Batteries  Mechanical  Chemical  Biomass  Cellulose Ethanol  StarchMethane  FatsBiodiesel  Other  Reduce cost by fold with new materials and technology  All arable land on Earth with switchgrass to displace all fossil fuel used today  Materials and technical breakthroughs needed

CO 2 Light Triglycerides Heat Alcohol Base Glycerol + Biodiesel Soybean oil Biodiesel First Generation Renewable Fuel

CO 2 Light Triglycerides Heat Alcohol Base Glycerol + Soybean oil Biodiesel Soybeans = 48 gal oil/acre Canola = 140 gal oil/acre Algae = 10,000 gal oil/acre Biodiesel First Generation Renewable Fuel

Second Generation Renewable Fuel USU System 2: Biodiesel from an Algal Solar Bioreactor Light and CO 2 Oil Biodiesel Water Micros  Potential: 200x more oil per acre vs soybeans, low quality land.  USU Goals: Produce biodiesel that is cost competitive by 2009 through strain selection and optimization of system. Algae

Second Generation Renewable Fuel USU System 2: Biodiesel from an Algal Solar Bioreactor Light and CO 2 Oil Biodiesel Water Micros  Potential: 200x more oil per acre vs soybeans, low quality land.  USU Goals: Produce biodiesel that is cost competitive by 2009 through strain selection and optimization of system. Algae  140 billion gal of biodiesel would displace all gasoline and diesel used in the US.  Would require 12 % of the area of the Sonora desert using algae.

Why Biodiesel  Direct substitute for petroleum-based diesel;  Existing infrastructure for distribution to market;  Environmentally cleaner fuel - free of sulfur and aromatics;  Reduction in CO 2 emissions;  Distributed refineries; (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons)

Solar Bioreactors

Algae and Lipids USU Dried Algae USU Algae Lipid Extract USU Biodiesel

USU Phototrophic Organisms >40 different phototrophic microbes including bacteria, cyanobacteria, and algae. Production of a range of products. Analytical laboratory for small scale culture (3 L) and analysis of CO 2 capture and conversion to a variety of products L scale bioreactors in the USTAR Phase I Building.

Goal: Order-of-magnitude improvement in sunlight utilization Challenges Being Addressed: Eliminating photosynthetic saturation –Redistribution of visible portion of sunlight over an order-of-magnitude larger surface area Minimizing surface shading Converting otherwise-wasted UV/IR portion of solar spectrum into usable energy streams Eliminating biofouling in closed reactors Scalable, low-cost reactor designs Strain selection Incubation & Culturing Feedstock Production Harvesting Dewatering &Drying Oil Extraction & Pretreatment Oil Conversion & Refinement UV Infrared Visible In passive systems, less than 4% of the incident energy in sunlight is used constructively to grow algae Incident sunlight Steps in the production of biofuels USU Focus Areas

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING! For Information Byard Wood

$6 M over 5 years approved by USTAR Board (Jan. 2007). Three new hires (first hire started Jan from the National Renewable Energy Lab). Pilot and production scale operations underway. Seeking additional funding from NSF, DOE, and investors. Funding

Strain Collection/Characterization More than 30 species of known phototrophs have been collected and subcultured –Include species from the aquatic species program Approximately 15 species have been grown in large cultures (5 Liters) for lipid characterization –Total yields –Absorbance Comparisons –Time of growth Lipid quantification underway

Algal Characterization Outcomes Compounds vary –Fatty Acids –TAGs –Sterols –Phytols (branched chain alcohols) –Straight Chain Alkanes Total lipid quantification underway in second round of experiments

Performance Specifications achieved to date  50,000 Lumens delivered  50% Efficiency  10 m 2 algae illumination area  50 mph operating wind speed  120 mph survival wind speed  60” height  100 lbs. weight  0.1 o tracking accuracy

Photobioreactor Results Up to 300  mol/m 2 - s provided to algae PVC headers successful at producing uniform growth 2 months continuou s operation w/ no problems Low water and heat loss

Vegetable oil yields Algae: Up to 10,000 gal/acre Technical Definition: Biodiesel, n — a fuel composed of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, designated B100, and meeting the requirements of ASTM D Lipids and Biodiesel Biodiesel is a direct substitute for petro-diesel!

Worldwide refinery capacity is about 85 million barrels per day. To meet the projected growth it will have to increase by more than 45 million barrels per day by World Oil Production Capacity MMb/day 2002 – –