Production of algae in floating greenhouses for biofuel

Manuel Castañón – manuel.castanon@alumni.esade.edu

Project description

The project consists of algae farming in confined floating greenhouses (therefore controlled) disposed on an open

environment as the surface of a reservoir or the sea, for the subsequent production of biofuel.

It will impact people in 67.000 new employees, adding 3.900 Million € in the Spanish treasure and in the 25 million Spanish car

drivers reducing the cost of fuel , and therefore, the rest of products meanwhile transportation cost.

The problem Spain burns around 500 million Oil barrels every year and pays 40 Billion € for it (4% of GPD) to other countries (source: index Mundi)

The price for it rounds 110$/barrel (108.47 USD source: investing.com)

The problem

Projections suggest that oil price will continue to rise over the next 10 years, and perhaps never again below $100.

The vision

Leveraging some of the assets of Spain to help solve the problem of energy deficit, at the same time we contribute to a new and profitable production model and save foreign exchange.

Assets: - Solar radiation 70W/m2. - Reservoirs (150,000 ha)We pretend to use this surface and the power of the sun to produce one kind of algae which could be used to produce Diesel oil.

Stakeholders that support the visionThe science:

- In 2012, Chemical Eng. Rosa María Escudero projects “Micro Algae Plant production for Biofuel” (TRABAJO.pdf) and there is much more bibliography about that application.

- In 1988, UC Berkeley was granted US Plant Patent 6169 for Botryococcus braunii variety Showa, because of its highly reproducible hydrocarbon content. The patent has expired in April 2008.

- In May 2006, Nonomura filed a patent application disclosing novel growth and harvesting processes for Botryococcus braunii variety Ninsei that can be processed in existing gasoline refineries to transport fuels.

- In August 2011, variety Enomoto was announced by IHI NeoG Algae LLC.It has the highest yield for this fuel production over all the algae that have been discovered in the world“.It is additionally said to be very robust, presumably meaning it could be grown in an open environment (in ponds, instead of photobioreactors).

Stakeholders that support the visionThe algae:

Botryococcus braunii  is a green planktonic microalga.

The species is notable for its ability to produce high amounts of hydrocarbons that are typically around 86% of its dry weight can be long chain hydrocarbons.

It has been shown to grow best at 23°C, a light intensity of 60 W/M², 12 hours per day, and a salinity of 0.15 Molar NaCl (Spanish conditions)

But there are much more other algae that could also be used depending on the placement.

Stakeholders that support the vision

The weather:

Spain is in the northern border of sun radiation area that allows the grow of this kind of high performance Oil-content ratio algae.

Stakeholders that support the vision

The seaweed farmers:

Nowadays exist some production plants of algae, for some uses other than biofuel.

Stakeholders that support the vision

The Oil productors

Production plants of biofuel from algae, are also something that exist.

- http://biodiesel.com.ar/3966/oil-fox-s-a-inauguro-su-planta-de-biodiesel-a-partir-de-algas

Stakeholders that support the vision

The open sea fishbowl manufacturer

Aqualine (www.aqualine.no) produces equipment to the fish farming industry.

Scope of the Project The novelty is a plastic sealed bag that contains the substrate for algae and has a semi-permeable membranes where exchanges gases and water with the external environment, maintaining the ideal conditions for cell growth. It two tube connectors, one to retrieve the sludge and the other to reintroduce the substrate and readjust if necessary.

The purpose of the project is create a new industry that will produce 20% of the needs of Spanish diesel oil.

This calculation of opportunity is based in a Oil cost of $110/barrel

It will be true just achieving a production of algae equivalent to 10 kg per year of Botryococcus braunii  per m2 of installation.

The idea

One plastic bag (here called seaweed raft) contains the green algae inside and controls by itself the composition and conditions of the content.

The idea

The upper lid is made on transparent plastic and allows the light getting inside the bag. The bottom lid has a 1m2 gate where the membrane is located.

The gas permeable membrane allows the dissolved CO2 gas within the outer water getting inside the bag, due to its concentration is higher than inside, where it is consumed in cell grow.

The idea- The membrane

The membrane must let the gases and vapors interchange within the environment. This will allow the CO2 diffusion from out to inside.

This membrane could be made as C90 waterproofing, but must be evolved to assure better exchange.

There are some manufacturers, also in China http://www.underlaychina.com

Breathabe y Waterproofing Membrane (C90)

The scaled ideaTo make a grid of plastic bags as shown in the drawing, 20m away one from the other, covering the 76% of available surface with those bags.

For using in open sea, as well as reservoirs, we must plan a flexible bag and structure.

Here is how we imagine it. Aqualine/5 secs/

So now we have all that we need! Let’s go for it

TargetsTechnical Target:

To cover with that bags the 11 biggest reservoirs in Spain (90.000 ha), to produce up to 7 million tons/year meaning 3.700 Million €/year in Diesel oil.

Performance target:

The 100m diam. bag occupy 7.800 m2, has 0.8 m deep and a volume of 6.300 m3

Targets Income target:

Each 100m bag produce 100tons per year of algae meaning 43.600 €/bag.

Cost Target:

The bag weights 63ton and cost 158.000€ each. Operation costs are for retrieving the sludge. Maintenance include financial cost.

Payback:

9 years at 6.2% of Oil price increase (average from 1973 to 2013)

It make sense with today’s tech. from just 3% of oil price increasing for the next 12 years

Succeed Factors – How impacts Covering the biggest 11 reservoirs (90.000 ha):

- Will produce 10 million tons of Sludge- Will produce 7 million tons of Diesel oil (20% of needs)- Will save 3.900 Million € to Spanish Treasury - Will create 67.000 employees - Will save 18.5 Million tons CO2, the 5% of Spanish

emissions, equivalent to 6.200 km2 of green forest (the area of Tarragona province or the State of Delaware)

- Will reduce in 5% the 35% exceeding the Kyoto Protocol emissions Spanish commitment.

The End