Compared to crop oils currently being using for biodiesel feedstock such as soy, palm, corn and jatropha, selected strains of algae contain as much as 50% to 75% lipids (oil.) Once an alga has reached a measured density in a photobioreactor, it is harvested and could be cold pressed to extract the lipids (oil), the remaining carbohydrates in the algae flakes can be processed into ethanol. During this process, the oil remaining in the algae flakes after the cold press (20%) can be reclaimed and added to the biodiesel process for greater yields. After filtering and drying the remaining algae flakes the protein can be used in a number of other processes. Current research has hypothesized that certain strains of algae contain lipids that can be processed into jet fuel.

Agricultural Crop Yields click to view data sheet

Along with water, algae need three components for growth: carbon dioxide (CO2), nutrients and photons for photosynthesis. If you look at the amount of algal blooms present in the aquatic area of the planet, you will notice that man, through anthropogenic emissions, and Mother Nature have provided an abundant supply of the first two elements that algae need to grow. Algae can grow in salt water, brackish water, runoff from farm fields, and wastewater. Just take a look at the percolation ponds at any wastewater treatment plant that does not use an algaside to keep the growth of algae in check. Wastewater effluent contains the entire nutrient requirements for the growth of algae. Look at the many lakes and oceans near major metropolitan areas that are in the news showing harmful algae blooms. You are sure to find a water runoff or an outlet from a water treatment plant nearby. Closure of water recreational area from use because of algae blooms is commonplace with today's growing population.

Emission Science has developed an algae photobioreactor (APB) that provides the third ingredient for the growth of algae and does not require the full solar light spectrum (sunlight) to accomplish this. Plants require light in the visible spectrum to produce photosynthesis. But some light in the spectrum is harmful to the growth of algae. Ultra violet (UV) light will kill algae and Infra red (IR) light will heat the interior of the cells causing it to overheat and die. Research has found that algae use specific wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum for growth. Emission Science has developed a APB using a propriatary growth lamp and process for providing the specific photons needed for increased algal growth. It is low voltage and uses about the same power as a 24 watt light bulb per APB unit.

The Aquatic Species Program - 1976-1996, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) projected that yields from open-air ponds could be in the range of 5,000 to 15,00 gallons per acre. This feedstock oil per acre yield was projected using the open-air raceway pond technology that was created by the study. This is at least a X10 increase of current crop oils being farmed on land that could be used for food production, and yet the process does not need to use land viable for food production. Yields can be increased using today's closed photobioreactor technology. The study by NREL and DOE were cut short after 20 years by budget cuts in 1996 when the price of a barrel of oil was three times less than today.

Figures from 2004 stated that ethanol production used 12 percent of all the U.S. corn, and in 2005, 14 percent. Last year, 20 percent of all corn produced in the United States was made into fuel, and an estimated 26 percent will be converted in 2006. When do we stop taking away from the food supply and start using other resources for alternative fuel production?

Algae can produce more ethanol than corn. There's not enough viable land, in the United States, to grow crops for feedstock oils. To grow algae, you don't need the land used for subsistence crops. Algae are ideal for use in biofuels because they grow 10 to 20 times faster than conventional fuel crops, such as corn and soybeans. In addition, algae can absorb excess carbon dioxide from power plants and other major polluters, increasing the growth rate while converting these pollutants into protein, carbohydrates and lipids. Essentially recycling pollution and reducing or closing the carbon cycle.

Most advocates of biofuels neglect to mention the large expenditures that would have to be invested with the introduction of other forms of biofuels.  The same negative cost factors also apply with the use of hydrogen fuel. Positive factors in favor of algae-based alternative fuels are, for one, that the production facilities could be synergistically combined with municipal sewage treatment plants.  This technology will prove to be the preferred biofuel of the future.  The reason this will be so is that it will not take down the huge infrastructure investments that have already been made in refineries, pipelines, gas stations and private vehicles.

How environmentally sound would it be if two serious pollution problems were solved with this new technology?  Algae have a remarkable ability to capture carbon dioxide from exhaust gases as well as remove pollutants from wastewater.  Replacing all current gasoline use with biofuels such as ethanol is not the answer. It will take the mixed use of all alternative fuel technologies to reign in the problems that fossil fuels have caused civilization, but this technology is a step in the right direction.

Algae to Alternative fuel is but one of the solutions that Emission Science is dedicated to improving by developing technologies to make it happen.