Colorado State Programs & People
Exploring ways to use richly abundant, one-celled organisms to power our vehicles
Published December 2006
Colorado State is working with Solix Biofuels to develop technology that can cheaply produce biodiesel fuel from algae – an environmentally friendly solution to greenhouse gas emissions, high gas prices, and finite fossil fuel supplies.
Tiny, one-celled algae divide asexually and bountifully reproduce. The cells are continuously harvested from fluid with a centrifuge, then oil is extracted and refined into biodiesel.
A tiny, one-celled creature is reproducing like crazy behind the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory in north Fort Collins. But this organism isn’t a threat, it’s a special kind of algae – and Colorado State researchers are working on ways to extract its oil to help reduce the world’s dependence on finite fossil fuels and volatile energy markets.
Humming, bubbling caldron fed by carbon dioxide
On a warm, sunny afternoon, Bryan Wilson, director of the lab, stands near an experimental inoculating reactor that looks like a large cold frame for plants. The reactor is a humming, bubbling caldron fed by a constant stream of carbon dioxide, the stuff of life – along with solar power – for the algae inside that’s bountifully reproducing.
"We started with a 50-milliliter algal culture in June," Willson says. "It was from a species found in the North Sea that contains high amounts of lipids, which are the source of oil. The algae divide asexually, and through the miracle of exponential growth, we now have countless trillions of cells. It’s staggering how abundant this resource is."
Transparent plastic tubes create photo-bioreactors
Willson turns his attention to long rows of what look like water beds. These photo–bioreactors, developed by Jim Sears, founder of Solix Biofuels, consist of transparent plastic tubes that house the algae. The elegantly simple yet far-reaching design includes weighted rollers that travel slowly across the tubes, constantly circulating the algae to allow maximum photosynthesis.
"These are one-fifth- scale reactors," Willson says. "A pair of full-size reactors are about 350 feet long by 50 feet wide." Once the maximum levels of algae are reached, the cells are continuously harvested from the fluid with a centrifuge, then the oil is extracted and refined into biodiesel.
"I needed to team up with a university or other business to have the means to drive the project forward."
-Jim Sears, founder of Solix Biofuels
When Sears first became interested in algae-to-oil possibilities several years ago, he quickly realized the power and importance of the technology. "I also realized I needed to team up with a university or other business to have the means to drive the project forward," he says. He sought help at several universities, but he was making no headway until he sat down at a restaurant with Hunt Lambert, CSU’s associate vice president for economic development.
"Hunt saw right away that this project would fit very well with CSU’s supercluster concept of putting technology to work to benefit society," Sears says. As defined by the University, superclusters – in addition to other efforts – promote Colorado's quality of life and economic prosperity through more rapid technology transfer built around multidisciplinary research areas in which CSU excels.
Engaging partners to address great global challenges
"The idea of bringing industry intellectual property and partners into the University is extremely rare, and CSU’s willingness to engage those partners to address the great global challenges of our time is a testimony to the strength of President (Larry Edward) Penley and Provost Tony Frank’s vision for a 21st-century land-grant institution," Lambert says.
Lambert encouraged Sears to meet Willson, who turned out to be no less impressed by the scope and possibilities of the technology.
"It was a perfect match from the start," Sears says. "In fact, when I walked into the (Engines and Energy Conversion) lab for the first time, I knew it would be an ideal place to house the project. I could see that the lab was actively involved in significant, applied research and not just talking about things."
Talented students important to project
Sears and Willson share another common bond in having a pool of talented students to help them out. "I had the absolute pleasure of working all summer at the Engines lab with bright, capable students who were anxious to learn and apply their knowledge in meaningful ways," Sears says.
"Fortunately for us, most of the students didn’t have classes during the summer, so they were able to devote more time to the project."
What’s ahead
The next step in the program for the Solix team is to set up larger reactors on land leased by New Belgium, a brewery located close to the Engines lab. "New Belgium has a strong commitment to environmental sustainability, and they produce a lot of CO2," Willson says. But that’s only the beginning.
Beta cribs containing colonies of algae sit in the sun outside the CSU Engines Lab.
The beauty of the algae-to-oil project is partly due to the best places to site the reactors, which includes power plants and other industries that produce copious amounts of CO2. "Think of a plant like Rawhide, with bioreactors going around it for maybe five miles," Willson says. "That sounds like a lot of land, but it’s a very productive use of that land. In fact, we could provide all of the liquid fuel needs of the United States on about one-half percent of the available land, and we’re talking about agriculturally marginal land in areas that have lots of solar capacity. Surveys we’ve done have identified around 100 coal-fired plants and 200 natural gas-fueled power plants in the Southwest that have adequate land around them. That’s more than enough to meet the liquid fuel needs of the country."
Developing countries that don’t have ready access to fossil oil or coal also would benefit from the program. Algae-to-oil facilities would be an ideal solution for producing liquid transportation fuels while absorbing greenhouse gas emissions in the bargain.
Another benefit is that, because they’re single-celled organisms, algae grow extremely fast and produce lipids about 100 times faster than soy or canola. "With algae, we can get 7,000 to 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel per acre per year," Willson says. "We get only 50 to 100 gallons per acre per year with canola or soy."
Program builds on previous research
Although the technology for producing oil from algae has been around since the 1940s, the research started taking off in the late 1970s through the Aquatic Species Program at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colo., part of the U.S. Department of Energy. Early in the program, research was done in Hawaii, and at least one species of algae used in California ponds was a freshwater species isolated from local sewage streams.
