Omaha Biofuels Cooperative - and – Advanced Biofuels: Algae Feedstock Scott Williams, Ph.D. Managing Director
[email protected] (402) 915-FUEL t: @OmahaBiofuels facebook.com/OmahaBiofuelsCoop
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Overview • Omaha Biofuels Cooperative – Business principles – Operational details
• Advanced Biofuels – Algae as a feedstock
Business Principles
Omaha Biofuels Coop • “To produce, use, and promote biofuels” • A not-for-profit member owned and operated cooperative (S Corp) – NOT a 501(c)3 – Fuel production is not an exempt purpose
Business Principles • Committed to Openness – Creative Commons – Open Accounting – No ad revenue – Absolutely no private data selling
• Currently no paid workers • Prefer to have customers support what we do, rather than make a low-price decision
Price Point? Is it better to do the right thing For the wrong reason?
Price Point? • Price just below petroleum diesel – Rapid, significant demand – Large impact to reducing fossil fuel use
• Price just above petroleum diesel – Members make a conscious choice – Pay more for better “premium” fuel • Clean, renewable, local
– They support what it is the coop does – More than just “what’s best (cheapest) for me” – Mentality carries over to other transactions
Business Principles • Located in a city, including all codes, etc. – “regulatory uncertainty”
• Soap is an interesting co-product – Engage people about bioproducts, local, etc. – We won’t do it to “subsidize” fuel efforts
• Better to start new independent coops, than “grow” ourselves – Teach a group in Grand Island how to copy us
Outreach and Education
Cooperative Structure Owners = Workers = Customers = Investors?
• Make commercial fuel available • Shared production equipment • Work to directly produce needed fuel •
How can non-TDIers support what we do?
Producer/Consumer License • Non-bonded license • First organization in the state of NE • Members of the coop are entitled to exercise the terms of the license – Members can produce fuel – Members can consume fuel
• Possible that other orgs can be Members
This is how we roll
TDI GTG
Operational Details
New Location
New Location
Coop Layout
Oil Contracts • Currently have agreements with 6 local “restaurants” • Each is approx. 50 gal / month
Oil Collection
Oil Collection • 55 gal barrels on-site • Locking lids, w/ rough screen • Barrel dolly • Member’s personal F250, w/ Tommy Gate • DOT locked 55 gal barrels
• Low capital expense • More frequent oil service (lowers odors) • Less unsightly collection equipment
Oil Collection
Oil Collection
Oil Processing • We don’t have contracts with “terrible” oil • Some settling in barrels • Coarse filter • Leave “cream” sludge, ~10% of ea. barrel – Sell it to the commercial renderer
Oil Pumping • WVO Designs Gear Pump – 15 gpm • 150um metal screen on input hose • 1” hose, fittings • CamLocks (Banjo)
Oil Pumping
Oil Processing • Settling in 110 gal cone bottom tanks – Ace Roto-Mold (DenHartog)
• Water, particles, heavies all sink
• Stand pipe design – Pass-through 2” T fitting – 24” vertical pipe, good oil – Blow down of settled bad stuff
Oil Processing
Oil Processing
Oil Processing • Rule of Thumb: 24 hours at 150°F – Raise temp > Lower viscosity > Faster settling
• 1000 W bucket heaters – Allied Precision Industries (out of business?)
• New WVO heating design – central heat source – Heat exchanger coils in cone tanks – No risk of burning oil (or fire)
WVO Demand • WVO as fuel ~= WVO input for transesterification • WVO can be used directly in some cases – Converted greasecars, trucks, vans, busses – External combustion e.g. boilers – Road fuel tax disclaimer
• Large contract with local zoo
WVO Demand
WVO Demand
Steam Locomotive
Steam Locomotive
Steam Punk
Future Plans • Biodiesel fuel tank – 500 gal, double-wall, with pump/meter/hose
• Fill with commercial biodiesel • Distribute to members
Future Plans • New biodiesel production equipment – No homemade Appleseed, doesn’t meet code – BioPro 380
• Fill fuel tank with our fuel • Distribute to members
Questions?
Advanced Biofuels - Algae
WVO as a Feedstock • WVO (UCO) is a *limited* feedstock – ~ 300M gal per year nationwide – ~ 318M people nationwide – 1 gal / person / year – Never solve the “whole problem”
• WVO is a way to step into biofuels
Algae • The petroleum drilled now was once mostly algae • Algae concentrate energy – Excellent source for conversion to fuels – Need to improve upon natural processes – Faster than 100 million years
John Trost
Fossil fuels are NOT sustainable 1980
2012
Wikimedia:RockyMtnGuy
Alfred Palmer, LC-DIG-fsac-1a35072
NASA, DMSP - SSM/I
$700 billion imported per year
Lomacar ,
flickr:mateus27_24-25
f lickr:md9
U.S. Coast Guard, 100421-G-XXXXL
Biofuels
flickr:marxfoods
• Corn => ethanol
flickr: viviandnguyen
Soy => biodiesel
• Carbon neutral • Domestic • Blends with petroleum fuels
Biofuels
flickr:marxfoods
flickr: viviandnguyen
• Energy returns are modest 1 gallon in ≈> 1.2 gallons out
• Conflict of Food vs. Fuel
Biofuels from algae • Algae biofuels are “2nd generation” • Not a “food” • Grow on non-arable land • Remarkably high potential yields Sustainable Initiatives Fund Trust, flickr:siftnz
Algae, Large and Small • Macroalgae, “seaweed”, kelp
• Microalgae
wikimedia:Fastily
– Single cells, each about 5 micrometers – 20 cells fit across the width of a single hair NOAA, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
Many species of algae
Antonio Guillén, Proyecto Agua, flickr:microagua
WoRMS for SMEBD, Encyclopedia of Life
Marc Perkins, OCC Biology Dept, flickr:occbio
Algae grow rapidly
1 week
• Gallons per acre per year – Soy: – Algae:
75 2500
Turning Algae into Fuel • Species/Strain Selection • Growth / cultivation / farming • Harvesting, concentrating • Separation / Extraction / Fractionation • Fuel upgrading/refining
Algae Growth Methods • • • •
Closed photobioreactor (PRB) Heterotrophic growth Sugar as carbon source Artificial light (optional)
• High value algae products – Astaxanthin, lutein
Eva Decker, Uni Freiburg, AG Reski
Algae Growth Methods • • • •
Open raceway ponds Photoautrotrophic growth CO2 as carbon source Sunlight for photosynthesis
• Commodity value products – High protein feed, biofuels
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, flickr:PNNL
Harvesting • Concentrating, Dewatering, Drying • Flocculation causes algae cells to clump together • “Flocs” concentrate by floating to the top or sinking to the bottom S. H. Williams
Harvesting • Concentrating, Dewatering, Drying • Centrifuging can concentrate algae by 100x • Resulting paste is similar to mustard consistency S. H. Williams
DOE Tech Pathways • The DOE Bioenergy Technology Office has recently selected several priority pathways that will guide its R&D strategy in the near term • Two pathways are algae specific: – In the algal lipid upgrading (ALU) pathway, bio-oils are extracted from algal biomass via high-pressure homogenization and a hexane solvent; the algal oil can then be hydrotreated to produce advanced hydrocarbon fuels. – In the whole algae hydrothermal liquefaction (AHTL) pathway, bio-oils are separated from water via heat and pressure, so they can be catalytically hydrotreated and converted to advanced hydrocarbon fuels.
Extraction • Extracting oil from dry algae – Oil mill, or press – Solvents, distillation
• Intracellular water is difficult to remove • Drying is energy intensive
wikimedia:Murdockcrc
wikipedia:Topory
wikimedia:Matthewsr2000
Separation • Lipids are energy-dense hydrocarbons – Separate lipids from remaining biomass in the presence of water
Lipids
Solvent and Lipids Carbohydrates
Protein
Water Biomass S. H Williams
Thermochemical processing • Convert biomolecules into more desirable fuel compounds • Pyrolysis • Liquifaction • Hydrodeoxygenation Steve Selwood, flickr:8507625@N02
• Various processes be applied before and/or after separation
Fuel production • Transesterification – Fatty Acid Methyl Esters, “biodiesel”
• Refining into liquid hydrocarbon fuels – Gasoline – Jet Fuel – Diesel
( C8 ) ( C12 ) ( C16 )
Ron Cogswell, flickr:22711505@N05
Californniagal22, flickr:redwoodgal20
Sean MacEntee, flickr:smemon
Magnitude • Largest commercial biofuel operation – Sapphire Energy “Green Crude Farm” – Las Cruces, New Mexico – 300 acres
• Recent deal with Tesoro – 2 barrels / day – Refinery capacity: 675,000 barrels / day – Total US Consumption: 19,000,000 barrels / day Todd Woody, Quartz, March 21, 2013 http://qz.com/65476/why-its-a-big-deal-that-0-0003-of-tesoros-fuel-will-come-from-algae-this-year/ Source: United States Energy Information Administration, http://www.eai.gov
Growing Interest in Algae • Algae biodiesel blend at retail pumps – Propel Fuels and Solazyme Inc. – 30-day trial during Nov-Dec 2012
William Hartz, flickr:whartz
• Intel Science Talent Search, March 2013 – First Prize ($100,000) to Sara Volz, 17 years old
• Miss Volz’s project – Optimizing Algae Biofuels: Artificial Selection to Improve Lipid Synthesis
Peter Fimrite, Tuesday, November 13, 2012, http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Algae-based-fuel-on-sale-in-Bay-Area-4035462.php BusinessWire, March 05, 2013, http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130305006621/en/Soladiesel%C2%AE-Algae-Based-Fuel-Drives-Successful-Consumer-Trial Ethan Hauser, March 12, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/science/colorado-student-receives-100000-intel-first-prize.html
State-of-the-art • ANL / NREL / PNNL • TEA + LCA + RA • “Harmonized Model” report – Freely available, public domain
• ~$19 / gal (if built to commercial scale) • Major cost: Algae farming – Geoengineering – Plastic Liners – Flocculant
Algae Biomass Components • Proteins
Lipids
– Enzymes
• Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates
– Starches, sugars
• Lipids – -glyco-, -phospho-, sphigno– Oils, Fats, Fatty Acids, Sterols, Carotenoids… source: nutritiondata.com
Protein
Energy Content • Energy content can be calculated from atomic fractions • kJ / g = 35.17 C + 116.25 H - 11.1 O + 6.28 N + 10.47 S
• Lipids, high in C and H, are energy dense • Proteins have high N • Carbohydrates have high O • Foods: “Fats = 9 cal/g
proteins, carbs = 4 cal/g”
Energy Density Distribution Biomass Fraction TAG lipids Phospholipids Glycolipids Protein Polysaccharide Nucleic acid
0.02 0.10 0.10 0.45 0.30 0.03
Energy Density (MJ/kg) 40.2 35.3 33.4 23.9 17.3 14.8
\ | lipids avg = 34.9 /
Williams, Peter J. le B., Laurens, Lieve M. L. Microalgae as biodiesel & biomass feedstocks: Review & analysis of the biochemistry, energetics & economics Energy Environ. Sci., 2010, 3, 554-590 http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/B924978H
Energy Density Distribution 0.20 0.18
Fraction of total biomass
0.16 0.14 0.12
Fuel
0.10 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.00 0
10
20
30
Energy Density (MJ/kg)
40
50
Algae Oil for biofuels • Triglycerides – Transesterification, • FAME (biodiesel)
• Phospholipids – Two energy-dense, aliphatic fatty acid chains – Phosphate group, necessary algae nutrient
Non-polar Hydrophobic
modified from Wikimedia Commons:Franciscosp2
Polar Hydrophillic
Dry Algae • Extracellular / Intracellular Water – Algae cells are “about 80% water”
• Drying algae causes algae cells to encyst – Cell walls are difficult to penetrate/dissolve at STP
• Cells can be disrupted, lysed to disrupt cellular membranes and improve extraction – French Press, EmulsiFlex homogenizer, kinetic homogenizer, bead beater, microwave, pressure swing etc.
Drying Algae is Expensive • Algae paste from centrifuge:
80% moisture
• For 1 kg of dry algae @ 15% moisture, • 3 kg of water needs to be dried away • It takes significant energy to dry (evaporate) water • H2O enthalpy of vaporization 2260 kJ/kg • Assuming •
algae oil content cost of energy
33% $0.10 / kWh
• Drying alone would add $2.10/gal of algae oil • For a target fuel price of $4/gal, this is obviously prohibitive
• Phase separation of watersoluble solvents isn’t possible • Immiscible solvents are severely inhibited by presence of water
• Mixing can overcome the water barrier – Increased mixing tends to form emulsions
Extraction Efficiency
Wet Algae 100% 80% 60% 40% 20%
0% 0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Moisture Content
100%
Water is barrier 100% 90%
Extraction Efficiency
80% 70% 60% Low
50%
1 min 40%
5 min
30% 20% 10% 0% 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Moisture Content
60%
70%
80%
90%
Algae Oil Extraction @ JHU
1) Mix Solvent
H2O & Algae
2) Centrifuge
Solvent with Algae oil H2O Leftover Algae
Algae Oil
Questions?
