PI Name: William Roberts Institution: North Carolina State University Proposal Number: 0937721
EFRI: EFRI HyBi: Algal Oils to 'Drop-in' Replacements for Petroleum-derived Transportation Fuels
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)
NC State?s EFRI HyBi will develop the technical feasibility and demonstrate scalability of a unique, multi-step catalytic process to convert a wide range of fats/oils/lipids into replacement transportation fuels that are chemically and physically similar to their petroleum counterparts, thus dramatically reducing infrastructure complications. Algal oils are an ideal feedstock for biofuels production, offering very high production density and the ability to use marginal water (municipal waste, brackish water, etc) and reuse CO2 emitted from coal-fired power plants. However, there are a number of technical challenges associated with efficiently exploiting algae?s inherent advantages as a feedstock. Using a tightly coupled synergistic approach employing both engineering and biology faculty, the team will: a) use a synthetic biology approach to genetically alter a marine microalgae species (Dunaliella) to produce the most desirable feed stocks and optimize the production for conversion to transportation fuels, b) develop innovative and transformative approaches to extracting these lipids and fatty acids from the algae, c) optimize the decarboxylation catalyst, and d) optimize the entire biorefinery process including maximizing thermal efficiency and utilization of co-products and by-products.
Intellectual Merit New technologies to transform non-food, renewable feedstock into high quality hydrocarbon biofuels for the transportation sector will broaden scientific discovery and create the framework, synergy and momentum for biologists and engineers to further explore potential alternative fuels. Genetic enhancement and environmental controls will be used to maximize the production of the most beneficial lipids, including synthetic biology approaches to enhance fatty acid synthesis. Exploration of innovative and very efficient means for lipid extraction, including transformative continuous extraction of produced fatty acids, will transform the scientific development of algae as a biofuels feedstock. Key advantages of our proposed biofuels process are its feedstock flexibility, output flexibility/control, and very limited hydrogen requirement. Biorefinery architecture optimization and investigation of multiple strategies to use byproducts (glycerol) efficiently will advance knowledge in the alternative fuels industry, creating more efficient mechanisms to exploit co-products (nutraceuticals, animal feed, etc).
Broader Impacts The prospect of hydrocarbon biofuels that are fully compatible with all existing infrastructure, coupled with the fully realized potential of algae as a biofuels feedstock, offers tremendous economic and environmental impact by reducing the transportation sector?s reliance on fossil fuels. Innovative and transformative enabling technologies that will permit the conversion of algal oils into high-value transportation fuels in an economically viable process will bring significant environmental and economic benefits to the nation through the development of an efficient, high-yield alternative energy source. This interdisciplinary research between chemical, mechanical, and bio/agricultural engineers, phycologists, molecular and synthetic biologists, and microbiologists provides unique training opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral scholars to bridge disciplines and become the new generation of scientists and engineers to develop renewable energy for future generations.
