This SBIR Phase I project will develop and establish a straightforward algal bio-fuels platform that will produce both hydrogen and bio-fuel in the form of biodiesel from domestically grown biomass. The produced hydrogen can be used for industrial applications while the produced biodiesel can be used to satisfy transportation needs, thus enabling greater energy self sufficiency in an environmentally responsible manner. Production of these bio-fuels in this manner represents a major departure from current technology of producing them from fossil fuels, thereby reducing the Nation?s dependence on imported fuels. Ultimately, the team will develop pilot scale data (1-1.5 liters) and use the empirical data to define economic rationale for scale up.
The broader/commercial impact of the project will be to establish baseline values for the hydrogen and bio-fuel production from pilot scale facilities, potentially reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer production.
In July of 2010 Helios-NRG was awarded an NSF Grant (ID # 1013358) to develop a novel, algae based, technology to efficiently capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial vent gas streams and convert it to bio-fuels such as bio-diesel and hydrogen. The hydrogen produced can be used for industrial or transportation applications while the biodiesel can be used to satisfy transportation needs, thus enabling greater energy self sufficiency in an environmentally responsible manner. Production of these bio-fuels in this manner represents a major departure from current technology of producing them from fossil fuels. The project has made tremendous progress and all the Phase I objectives were met or significantly exceeded. Major accomplishments of Phase I included the following: We selected two preferred algae species that grow extremely rapidly, capture CO2 and thrive in a high CO2 environment. The growth rates were exceptionally fast with the algae gaining 5-10 times its starting weight in a single day. We demonstrated over 90% CO2 capture from a simulated flue gas stream using algae. This required us to break new ground to tailor the algae culture to changing CO2 and in designing the photo bioreactors in which they are grown. An exciting development was our ability to show that the growth rate (productivity) of the algae could be greatly increased using the additional CO2. By carefully tuning the growing conditions, the oil content of the algae was increased to ~50% of dry weight. The algae was also used to produce ~98% pure hydrogen using a water based reformation process that operates at much lower temperatures than current industrial reforming technologies for hydrogen production. A novel technique to harvest the algae was developed. Algae is typically grown in dilute solution and de-watering the algae during harvesting tends to be a significant challenge. A scientific model was developed which is essential for scale-up and optimization of the technology. The progress in Phase 1 positions us well for undertaking the development of a pilot plant in Phase II. A successful Phase II will in turn enable a much larger scale demonstration of the technology in a real life industrial application in Phase III. We anticipate that success in the Demonstration Phase will lead to full commercialization in early 2018. This technology has the potential to significantly reduce the CO2 emissions from many large industrial sources while beneficially producing high value renewable fuels. Subsequent large scale commercialization for renewable fuels production will greatly reduce the US fossil fuel consumption and increase energy security by decreasing the Nation’s dependence on imported fuels – about 60% of the petroleum currently consumed is imported. This will enable a vibrant new domestic industry with the potential for millions of skilled jobs.
