Bitchkoma
04-28-2008, 06:20 AM
[this is an old article of mine, first posted on another site, early 2006]
When we think of algae, the first thing that comes to mind is pond scum – that slimy green stuff that clogs up drains and leaves a slimy green slush on the surface of an otherwise clear and tranquil looking pond. The next thing that comes to mind are methods of removing it. After all, who would want to cultivate ponds of that stinky green mush?
But how many of us realize that these simple, resilient, single-cell plants are so important to life on Earth in so many ways? In many eco-systems, algae and diatoms form the foundation of the food chain. It provides food for lesser species, which are in turn eaten by progressively larger species of animals all the way up to the top of the food chain.
East Asian cultures have been relying on algae as a food source for ages now. Seaweed, a macroalgae, has been the ingredient of many food products, from sushi to jelly and even as the emulsifier in ice-cream. And for years now, health fanatics have extolled the virtues of nutritional supplements containing microalgal strains that will increase the body’s health, vitality and energy.
Air Supply
Aside from being the foundation of various eco-systems’ food chain, a lesser known fact is that these simple plants provide between 50-70% of the oxygen we all breathe and depend on. How is this possible, one might ask? We all know that forests are important features in the planet’s oxygen cycle, but algae?
The answer lies in the fact that more than 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water. Most marine algae may be almost invisible to the naked eye, but just because they are not as prominent as tropical rainforests or the evergreen forests of the northern latitudes, it does not mean they are any less important.
Now, as we step into the dawn of a new millennia, our friends the algae may become more important to us than we realize. With fossil fuel reserves continuously depleting, the search is on for a viable source of renewable energy. It is in our best interest to push for clean and green sources of energy.
At the forefront of these renewable sources of energy are hydrogen fuel-cells and biodiesel technologies. Although hydrogen fuel is touted as the energy source of choice, with water vapor as the only emission, currently the infrastructure for its widespread usage is not yet in place. That leaves biodiesel as the next viable alternative.
The Misunderstood Diesel
When we think of diesel engines, the image that often comes to mind is that of large trucks and buses spewing a dirty black cloud from its exhausts. But this is common misperception. Modern compression-ignition (diesel) engine are much cleaner than its polluting predecessors and is actually more efficient than the best spark-ignition (gasoline) engine. Some 40% more efficient. Coupled with the fact that biodiesel fuels are fully compatible with the modern diesel engines without the need for any modifications, clearly the best alternative fuel for the present would be biodiesel.
Critics to biodiesel often cite resource limitations as a dampening factor to the development of biodiesel alternatives. They say that the land needed to grow biofuel crops would compete with land needed for food crops. They say it will compete for water and nutrients. This is certainly true for most biodiesel crops. But this is where our friend the algae comes in. Since it grows in ponds and could possibly be cultivated at sea, land issues are out of the way.
It has been estimated that the per unit area yield of oil from microalgae culture systems is as high as 19,000 to 76,000 liters per acre, per year. That is between 7 to 31 times more productive, compared with the next best crop, palm oil at 2,400 liters per acre per year. Oil derived from algal sources processes into biodiesel as easily as any other terrestrial crop.
As for nutrient problems, this is clearly a non-issue as algal cultivation systems can be tied in to many other processes, such as waste streams from human or animal wastes to coal power plants, as a method of scrubbing the carbon dioxide emissions.
The only difficulty present with algal cultivation systems is finding the right strain with a high lipid content that grows fast and a cost-effective cultivation method that best suits the strain selected. A lot of research and development is currently underway to overcome this obstacle, but the future looks promising.
Into the Future
When the time comes and hydrogen fuel becomes the alternative energy source of choice, our friend the algae may still provide us with the answer. As early as 1939 scientists discovered a strain of algae that sometimes switches production from oxygen to hydrogen. They found that by depriving the algae of sulfur, normal photosynthesis within the plant would be disrupted and it would start producing hydrogen.
Clearly, algae are more important and useful than we give it credit. Not only do we owe much of our oxygen supply to it, these amazing plants may someday provide us with another reason for our dependence on them – as a source of fuel. So the next time you see a patch of green slime stuck to the wall of drainage ditches, don’t simply dismiss it. We depend on them more than they depend on us.
References:
Hall, J. (2004) Ecology.com: The Most Important Organism in the World
http://www.ecology.com/dr-jacks-natural ... index.html (http://www.ecology.com/dr-jacks-natural-world/most-important-organism/index.html)
Wikipedia (2006) Wikipedia.com: Algae Culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_culture
Bengston, R. (2005) American Energy Independence: Biodiesel
http://www.americanenergyindependence.c ... iesel.html (http://www.americanenergyindependence.com/biodiesel.html)
Shehan, J., Dunahay, T., Benemann, J., and Roessler, P. (1998) A Look Back at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Aquatic Culture Program – Biodiesel From Algae pp. 3-4, pp. 248-251. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdf ... _algae.pdf (http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/biodiesel_from_algae.pdf)
Briggs, M. (2004) UNH Biodiesel Group: Widescale Biodiesel Production From Algae
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
[my other related posts that follows]
In a related news story, a Massachusets start up is developing algal biofuels technology to cleanse the pollution from smokestacks. Inspired from technology to develop life-support systems for NASA, Professor Isaac Berzin was working on a project to take humans to other worlds.
It Comes From Space to Solve our Energy Problems (http://www.physorg.com/news11640.html)
GreenFuel Technologies Corporation, a start-up company in Cambridge Massachusetts, wants to use little green algae to cleanse the smoke from polluting smokestacks, converting it back into bio-fuels such as diesel or ethanol.
Originally inspired by NASA studies into regenerative life-support, the technology incorporates specially shaped tubes of water and site-specific algae at the end of large-scale sources of Carbon Dioxide such as coal-burning plants, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 40% and NOx by up to 86%, according to the company.
“This is a really big idea.” said GreenFuel founder and MIT Aeronautics Professor Isaac Berzin during a recent interview with Scientific American.
While the idea of using algae to clean smoke is not new, GreenFuel has made two breakthroughs that it believes will make the concept viable. First, it developed techniques to tailor algal species to specific sites, increasing efficiency and reducing problems such as die-off that have plagued other attempts. “There are a lot of variables which go into selecting a given strain of algae, from basic environmental factors such as climate and light levels, to power-plant factors like the nature of output gases, to post-processing requirements.” explained Marty Goldenblatt, VP of Sales, in a recent interview with PhysOrg. “We use rapid adaptation devices which allows us to find what set of algae is best for different conditions.”
I really like this idea of using algae to help reduce our fossil fuel dependence and cut pollution emissions. As I have mentioned in my previous post, most of the technology is there, it just requires some slight R&D development and the right push from energy companies.
That second reason is the bigger hurdle. The big players in energy are usually quite reserved when it comes to investing in high-tech initiatives.
[concerning hydrogen from algae]
Mutant Algae Is Hydrogen Factory (http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70273-0.html?tw=rss.index)
Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have engineered a strain of pond scum that could, with further refinements, produce vast amounts of hydrogen through photosynthesis.
The work, led by plant physiologist Tasios Melis, is so far unpublished. But if it proves correct, it would mean a major breakthrough in using algae as an industrial factory, not only for hydrogen, but for a wide range of products, from biodiesel to cosmetics.
The new strain of algae, known as C. reinhardtii, has truncated chlorophyll antennae within the chloroplasts of the cells, which serves to increase the organism's energy efficiency. In addition, it makes the algae a lighter shade of green, which in turn allows more sunlight deeper into an algal culture and therefore allows more cells to photosynthesize.
The engineered strain has gone beyond the need 10 percent increase in solar energy conversion efficiency to make it economically viable. Add to that, this strain currently produces 100,000 times more hydrogen than the original strain. But they still need to increase it by a factor of 100 to make it commercially viable.
Even the famous bio-entrepeneur J. Craig Venter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Venter) has got himself involved in this project.
Related Internet Links:
The Register, UK: Pond life: the future of energy (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/24/pond_scum_breakthrough/)
Autoblog.com: Bioengineered algae bringing hydrogen fuel-cells closer? (http://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/24/bioengineered-algea-bringing-hydrogen-fuel-cells-closer/)
[update November 2007]
Algae could generate hydrogen for fuel cells (http://www.physorg.com/news114172068.html)
For several decades, scientists have known that certain species of algae can produce hydrogen in anaerobic conditions. More recently, researchers have been trying to take advantage of this ability to produce hydrogen that could be used by fuel cells to generate electricity—without expensive processes like electrolysis required for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Now, a team of biologists including Raymond Surzycki and Jean-David Rochaix from the University of Geneva, and Laurent Cournac and Gilles Peltier, both from the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Center for Scientific Research, and the Mediterranean University, have demonstrated a new method for hydrogen production by algae. In a recent issue of PNAS, the team presented a method using copper to block oxygen generation in the cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that could lead to a consistent cycle of hydrogen production.
In order to induce hydrogen production in the algae, cells must be placed in an environment without oxygen but with access to light. To completely deplete the algae’s oxygen supply, the researchers turned off part of a chloroplast gene required for oxygen evolution by adding copper to the cells in an enclosed chamber. Specifically, the addition of copper turned off the Cyc6 promoter, which drives the Nac2 gene, which is required for photosystem II (PSII) synthesis. PSII generates oxygen.
Within about three hours, nearly all the oxygen was consumed by respiration, and the algae reached an anaerobic state. Without oxygen, the algae began to synthesize hydrogenase and then produce hydrogen.
They used the same strain of pond scum as Melis, but unlike their predecessor, the algae didn't eventually die off. The rate of hydrogen production compared to the previous method is slightly lower, but again it's still better because the cells didn't die off.
It's a small step, but it's a step nonetheless. Stay tuned.
When we think of algae, the first thing that comes to mind is pond scum – that slimy green stuff that clogs up drains and leaves a slimy green slush on the surface of an otherwise clear and tranquil looking pond. The next thing that comes to mind are methods of removing it. After all, who would want to cultivate ponds of that stinky green mush?
But how many of us realize that these simple, resilient, single-cell plants are so important to life on Earth in so many ways? In many eco-systems, algae and diatoms form the foundation of the food chain. It provides food for lesser species, which are in turn eaten by progressively larger species of animals all the way up to the top of the food chain.
East Asian cultures have been relying on algae as a food source for ages now. Seaweed, a macroalgae, has been the ingredient of many food products, from sushi to jelly and even as the emulsifier in ice-cream. And for years now, health fanatics have extolled the virtues of nutritional supplements containing microalgal strains that will increase the body’s health, vitality and energy.
Air Supply
Aside from being the foundation of various eco-systems’ food chain, a lesser known fact is that these simple plants provide between 50-70% of the oxygen we all breathe and depend on. How is this possible, one might ask? We all know that forests are important features in the planet’s oxygen cycle, but algae?
The answer lies in the fact that more than 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water. Most marine algae may be almost invisible to the naked eye, but just because they are not as prominent as tropical rainforests or the evergreen forests of the northern latitudes, it does not mean they are any less important.
Now, as we step into the dawn of a new millennia, our friends the algae may become more important to us than we realize. With fossil fuel reserves continuously depleting, the search is on for a viable source of renewable energy. It is in our best interest to push for clean and green sources of energy.
At the forefront of these renewable sources of energy are hydrogen fuel-cells and biodiesel technologies. Although hydrogen fuel is touted as the energy source of choice, with water vapor as the only emission, currently the infrastructure for its widespread usage is not yet in place. That leaves biodiesel as the next viable alternative.
The Misunderstood Diesel
When we think of diesel engines, the image that often comes to mind is that of large trucks and buses spewing a dirty black cloud from its exhausts. But this is common misperception. Modern compression-ignition (diesel) engine are much cleaner than its polluting predecessors and is actually more efficient than the best spark-ignition (gasoline) engine. Some 40% more efficient. Coupled with the fact that biodiesel fuels are fully compatible with the modern diesel engines without the need for any modifications, clearly the best alternative fuel for the present would be biodiesel.
Critics to biodiesel often cite resource limitations as a dampening factor to the development of biodiesel alternatives. They say that the land needed to grow biofuel crops would compete with land needed for food crops. They say it will compete for water and nutrients. This is certainly true for most biodiesel crops. But this is where our friend the algae comes in. Since it grows in ponds and could possibly be cultivated at sea, land issues are out of the way.
It has been estimated that the per unit area yield of oil from microalgae culture systems is as high as 19,000 to 76,000 liters per acre, per year. That is between 7 to 31 times more productive, compared with the next best crop, palm oil at 2,400 liters per acre per year. Oil derived from algal sources processes into biodiesel as easily as any other terrestrial crop.
As for nutrient problems, this is clearly a non-issue as algal cultivation systems can be tied in to many other processes, such as waste streams from human or animal wastes to coal power plants, as a method of scrubbing the carbon dioxide emissions.
The only difficulty present with algal cultivation systems is finding the right strain with a high lipid content that grows fast and a cost-effective cultivation method that best suits the strain selected. A lot of research and development is currently underway to overcome this obstacle, but the future looks promising.
Into the Future
When the time comes and hydrogen fuel becomes the alternative energy source of choice, our friend the algae may still provide us with the answer. As early as 1939 scientists discovered a strain of algae that sometimes switches production from oxygen to hydrogen. They found that by depriving the algae of sulfur, normal photosynthesis within the plant would be disrupted and it would start producing hydrogen.
Clearly, algae are more important and useful than we give it credit. Not only do we owe much of our oxygen supply to it, these amazing plants may someday provide us with another reason for our dependence on them – as a source of fuel. So the next time you see a patch of green slime stuck to the wall of drainage ditches, don’t simply dismiss it. We depend on them more than they depend on us.
References:
Hall, J. (2004) Ecology.com: The Most Important Organism in the World
http://www.ecology.com/dr-jacks-natural ... index.html (http://www.ecology.com/dr-jacks-natural-world/most-important-organism/index.html)
Wikipedia (2006) Wikipedia.com: Algae Culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_culture
Bengston, R. (2005) American Energy Independence: Biodiesel
http://www.americanenergyindependence.c ... iesel.html (http://www.americanenergyindependence.com/biodiesel.html)
Shehan, J., Dunahay, T., Benemann, J., and Roessler, P. (1998) A Look Back at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Aquatic Culture Program – Biodiesel From Algae pp. 3-4, pp. 248-251. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdf ... _algae.pdf (http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/biodiesel_from_algae.pdf)
Briggs, M. (2004) UNH Biodiesel Group: Widescale Biodiesel Production From Algae
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
[my other related posts that follows]
In a related news story, a Massachusets start up is developing algal biofuels technology to cleanse the pollution from smokestacks. Inspired from technology to develop life-support systems for NASA, Professor Isaac Berzin was working on a project to take humans to other worlds.
It Comes From Space to Solve our Energy Problems (http://www.physorg.com/news11640.html)
GreenFuel Technologies Corporation, a start-up company in Cambridge Massachusetts, wants to use little green algae to cleanse the smoke from polluting smokestacks, converting it back into bio-fuels such as diesel or ethanol.
Originally inspired by NASA studies into regenerative life-support, the technology incorporates specially shaped tubes of water and site-specific algae at the end of large-scale sources of Carbon Dioxide such as coal-burning plants, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 40% and NOx by up to 86%, according to the company.
“This is a really big idea.” said GreenFuel founder and MIT Aeronautics Professor Isaac Berzin during a recent interview with Scientific American.
While the idea of using algae to clean smoke is not new, GreenFuel has made two breakthroughs that it believes will make the concept viable. First, it developed techniques to tailor algal species to specific sites, increasing efficiency and reducing problems such as die-off that have plagued other attempts. “There are a lot of variables which go into selecting a given strain of algae, from basic environmental factors such as climate and light levels, to power-plant factors like the nature of output gases, to post-processing requirements.” explained Marty Goldenblatt, VP of Sales, in a recent interview with PhysOrg. “We use rapid adaptation devices which allows us to find what set of algae is best for different conditions.”
I really like this idea of using algae to help reduce our fossil fuel dependence and cut pollution emissions. As I have mentioned in my previous post, most of the technology is there, it just requires some slight R&D development and the right push from energy companies.
That second reason is the bigger hurdle. The big players in energy are usually quite reserved when it comes to investing in high-tech initiatives.
[concerning hydrogen from algae]
Mutant Algae Is Hydrogen Factory (http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70273-0.html?tw=rss.index)
Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have engineered a strain of pond scum that could, with further refinements, produce vast amounts of hydrogen through photosynthesis.
The work, led by plant physiologist Tasios Melis, is so far unpublished. But if it proves correct, it would mean a major breakthrough in using algae as an industrial factory, not only for hydrogen, but for a wide range of products, from biodiesel to cosmetics.
The new strain of algae, known as C. reinhardtii, has truncated chlorophyll antennae within the chloroplasts of the cells, which serves to increase the organism's energy efficiency. In addition, it makes the algae a lighter shade of green, which in turn allows more sunlight deeper into an algal culture and therefore allows more cells to photosynthesize.
The engineered strain has gone beyond the need 10 percent increase in solar energy conversion efficiency to make it economically viable. Add to that, this strain currently produces 100,000 times more hydrogen than the original strain. But they still need to increase it by a factor of 100 to make it commercially viable.
Even the famous bio-entrepeneur J. Craig Venter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Venter) has got himself involved in this project.
Related Internet Links:
The Register, UK: Pond life: the future of energy (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/24/pond_scum_breakthrough/)
Autoblog.com: Bioengineered algae bringing hydrogen fuel-cells closer? (http://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/24/bioengineered-algea-bringing-hydrogen-fuel-cells-closer/)
[update November 2007]
Algae could generate hydrogen for fuel cells (http://www.physorg.com/news114172068.html)
For several decades, scientists have known that certain species of algae can produce hydrogen in anaerobic conditions. More recently, researchers have been trying to take advantage of this ability to produce hydrogen that could be used by fuel cells to generate electricity—without expensive processes like electrolysis required for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Now, a team of biologists including Raymond Surzycki and Jean-David Rochaix from the University of Geneva, and Laurent Cournac and Gilles Peltier, both from the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Center for Scientific Research, and the Mediterranean University, have demonstrated a new method for hydrogen production by algae. In a recent issue of PNAS, the team presented a method using copper to block oxygen generation in the cells of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that could lead to a consistent cycle of hydrogen production.
In order to induce hydrogen production in the algae, cells must be placed in an environment without oxygen but with access to light. To completely deplete the algae’s oxygen supply, the researchers turned off part of a chloroplast gene required for oxygen evolution by adding copper to the cells in an enclosed chamber. Specifically, the addition of copper turned off the Cyc6 promoter, which drives the Nac2 gene, which is required for photosystem II (PSII) synthesis. PSII generates oxygen.
Within about three hours, nearly all the oxygen was consumed by respiration, and the algae reached an anaerobic state. Without oxygen, the algae began to synthesize hydrogenase and then produce hydrogen.
They used the same strain of pond scum as Melis, but unlike their predecessor, the algae didn't eventually die off. The rate of hydrogen production compared to the previous method is slightly lower, but again it's still better because the cells didn't die off.
It's a small step, but it's a step nonetheless. Stay tuned.