Advancing sustainable production of microalgal biofuels

Abigail Adebusuyi, PhD

Outline

Alternative energy Why microalgae biofuels Challenges to sustainable production of microalgal

biofuels Pollutants-to-Products microalgae research

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Alternative energy

Non-fossil energy sources that have no negative effect on the environment

Mostly renewable

www.e-education.psu.edu

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Biofuels

Fuel obtained directly or indirectly from biological processes

Renewable if from plants or microalgae biomass obtained using natural resources e.g. sunlight Additional benefit of carbon

capturebeaconenergynews.ca

Why microalgae biofuels?

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www.bioenergyconsult.com

Sun

(N, P, K)

CO2 source

precisionphysique.com www.superorganicfoods.com

BiofuelsBiodieselEthanolGasolineKerosene

Other products

O2

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Challenges to sustainable production of microalgal biofuels

No one has been able to produce enough microalgae biomass using sunlight at low-cost Inefficient sunlight energy conversion Low productivity High capital cost

Cost of biofuels is high Estimated biodiesel cost is $1.6 - >$75/L

silentcenter.deviantart.com

news.thomasnet.com

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Pollutants-to-Products (P2P) Microalgae project

Development of innovative technologies to increase microalgae biomass productivity at low-cost

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P2P’s Sun-tracking Photo-bioreactor (PBR)

Patent-pending technology “Active Spatial Sunlight DilutionTM” (PCT/CA2014/050450)

Increased sunlight utilization efficiency

Increased biomass productivity P2P’s Algi-ALPHA PBR

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Nutrient medium formulation

P2P’s Nutrient media

Common C. vulgaris nutrient media

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Current work Development of a pilot-scale

PBR based on P2P’s patent-pending technology

Water and nutrient recycling Efficient microalgae harvester Open to collaborations and

new partnerships to commercialize P2P’s technologies

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SummarySun

Optimized nutrient

CO2 source

www.superorganicfoods.com

BiofuelsBiodieselEthanolGasolineKerosene

Other productsAnimal feedsHealth supplementsCosmeticsPharmaceuticalsRecycle

nutrients & water

O2

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Acknowledgements