The NSF Sustainable Energy pathways (SEP) Program, under the umbrella of the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative, will support the research program of Prof. Sridhar Viamajala and co-workers at the University of Toldeo, Prof. Robin Gerlach and co-workers at Montana State University, and Prof. Gregory Characklis of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This project will focus on high lipid-producing native alkaliphilic algae which are less susceptible to detrimental contamination (due to their extreme growth environment) and able to accumulate large amounts of lipid. In addition, the project will develop and test low-energy options for cell harvesting as well as for fuel and high value product generation. Through integration of unique and robust advances in algal culture stability and productivity as well as research targeted on the critical processes of algae harvesting and conversion of biochemicals, scalable, environmentally and economically acceptable processes to produce renewable fuels and chemicals will be developed.
The results of this project will be of interest to industry, local communities, regulators, and academia. Specific outreach efforts will be directed towards each of these primary stakeholders through: (1) dissemination of research outcomes to local community members and industry stakeholders at conferences, trade meetings and by local community and legislator engagement; (2) engagement of underrepresented Native American students from Montana high schools and tribal colleges in summer research activities as well as undergraduate researchers in the PIs' laboratories; (3) education and training at the K-12 level through training of high school teachers; (4) development of an interdisciplinary distance-learning course sequence on "Sustainable Biofuels" that will cover broad topics on the fundamental biology, chemistry, engineering and sustainability aspects of biofuel production; (5) generation of information useful in making informed judgments regarding tradeoffs between cost and environmental impact using the results of the life-cycle analyses.
This sustainable energy pathway minimizes energy and materials requirements through use of low-energy chemical and biological processes coupled with nutrient and water recycle. The global warming potential (GWP) of such biorefineries would be significantly lowered through the use of energy-efficient cultivation, harvesting and conversion methods as well as by minimizing external demands for nutrients and water. Overall, these solutions to the challenge of economic and sustainable energy from algae will be transformative through the development of novel scientific and technical advances, balanced with environmental, economic and societal merits. These algal farms will not compete with arable lands, food production, or use high quality water.
