Fuel From Utility Poles: Cellulosic Ethanol Heats Up in Cool Economy

Jennifer Kho — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:55:05 +0000

Utilities may soon be helping to bring biofuels to your gas tank in an unexpected way. Montreal-based Enerkem recently announced it has finished building what it’s calling its first commercial-scale plant, one that will make cellulosic ethanol, methanol and various biochemicals from discarded utility poles.

After 14 months of construction, the Westbury, Quebec, factory was “mechanically completed” in December, but it isn’t yet fully operational. The company is now working to get the gas part of the plant – the part that will convert the poles into what’s called “syngas,” a mixture that includes carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and will use it to make methanol — up and running now and expects it to be running constantly by early February, CEO Vincent Chornet says.

GreenFuel Technologies Announces First Commercial Algae Plant

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:35:52 +0000

The promise of commercial algae fuel is getting closer to reality with GreenFuel Technologies’ announcement today of a $92 million deal to build algae greenhouses. The project will capture CO2 emissions from a cement plant in Jerez, Spain and use them to grow algae for food, fuel, and feedstock.

Algae Biodiesel Startups Plan Large-Scale Algae Farms

Clayton B. Cornell — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:37:17 +0000

This is what an algae biodiesel farm might look like. If you aren’t sick of the topic yet, here’s one more story to throw in the mix: Several new startups, including a company called Solix Biofuels outside Ft. Colins, CO, and Greenfuel Technologies Corp. of MA, have plans for large-scale algae production that should be online within the year.

As I’ve discussed, algae win the feedstock battle in terms of productivity, with theoretical oil yields of up to 10,000 gallons per acre (that’s 30-100x what soybeans produce). But reality is always a little more complicated. Although algae grow relatively easily (think pond slime), maintaining ideal growing conditions like temperature and CO2 concentration can be difficult. If you want exponential growth, it also turns out that atmospheric CO2 concentrations are not high enough to produce the yields necessary for commercial production, not to mention the potential for the whole mix to be thrown off by invasive species.

Enter the polyethylene “photobioreactor” bag, where light, temperature, CO2, and nutrients can be tightly controlled. The CO2 concentration can be supplemented by waste CO2 from any industrial process, but especially coal-power plants. Initially, this would seem to constrain the utility of algae-farming to having a nearby coal plant, but smaller process produce wast CO2 too. Solix plans on working with the New Belgium Brewery in Ft. Colins to produce algae from waste CO2 produced in the brewing process. (Check back later for an interview with New Belgium). Under the right conditions, algae can be coaxed to double their volume overnight, and this means a lot of oil:

“If we were to replace all of the diesel that we use in the United States” with an algae derivative, says Solix CEO Douglas Henston, “we could do it on an area of land that’s about one-half of 1 percent of the current farm land that we use now.”

Idealistic? Maybe. I’ve heard this kind of thing for wind power too. But it seems possible given the proposed technology, and I know that coal power and it’s perpetual waste CO2 stream isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The algae farm is also “infinitely scalable”, so rapid expansion seems like a no brainer:

John Sheehan, an energy analyst with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., believes these goals are within reach. “There is no other resource that comes even close in magnitude to the potential for making oil,” says Sheehan, who worked in the lab’s algae program before it was shut down by the Department of Energy. One of algae’s great strengths, Sheehan adds, is its ability to grow well in brackish water. In the desert southwest, where much of the groundwater is saline and unsuitable for other forms of agriculture, algae can proliferate.”

All that waits to be seen now is when algae biodiesel will actually become economically viable. Keep your fingers crossed - it may be by the end of the decade.

Latest update on Algae Biodiesel: Algae Biodiesel: First Industrial Algae Plants Go Online

Pond-Powered Biofuels: Turning Algae into America’s New Energy (March 29th) Popular Mechanics
Solix Biofuels: Fueling a Better World
GreenFuel Technologies Corp.

Photo Credit: Solix Biofuels

Green Options » GreenFuel

Fuel From Utility Poles: Cellulosic Ethanol Heats Up in Cool Economy

GreenFuel Technologies Announces First Commercial Algae Plant

Algae Biodiesel Startups Plan Large-Scale Algae Farms