Omaha Biofuels Cooperative- and –

Advanced Biofuels: Algae Feedstock

Scott Williams, Ph.D.

Managing Director

scott@OmahaBiofuelsCoop.org

(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

NASA, DMSP - SSM/I

1980

2012

Wikimedia:RockyMtnGuy Alfred Palmer, LC-DIG-fsac-1a35072

$700 billion imported per year

flickr:mateus27_24-25 U.S. Coast Guard, 100421-G-XXXXL

Lomacar , f lickr:md9

Biofuels

• Corn => ethanol Soy => biodiesel

• Carbon neutral

• Domestic

• Blends with petroleum fuels

flickr:marxfoods flickr: viviandnguyen

Biofuels

• Energy returns are modest

1 gallon in ≈> 1.2 gallons out

• Conflict of Food vs. Fuel

flickr:marxfoods flickr: viviandnguyen

Biofuels from algae

• Algae biofuels are “2nd generation”

• Not a “food”

• Grow on

non-arable land

• Remarkably high

potential yieldsSustainable Initiatives Fund Trust, flickr:siftnz

Algae, Large and Small

• Macroalgae, “seaweed”, kelp

• Microalgae

– Single cells,

each about 5 micrometers

– 20 cells fit across the width

of a single hair

wikimedia:Fastily

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: 75

– Algae: 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

wikipedia:Topory

wikimedia:Matthewsr2000wikimedia:Murdockcrc

Separation

• Lipids are energy-dense hydrocarbons

– Separate lipids from remaining biomass

in the presence of water

S. H Williams

Solvent and

Lipids

Water

Biomass

ProteinCarbohydrates

Lipids

Thermochemical processing

• Convert biomolecules into more

desirable fuel compounds

• Pyrolysis

• Liquifaction

• Hydrodeoxygenation

• Various processes be applied

before and/or after separation

Steve Selwood,

flickr:8507625@N02

Fuel production

• Transesterification

– Fatty Acid Methyl Esters, “biodiesel”

• Refining into liquid hydrocarbon fuels

– Gasoline ( C8 )

– Jet Fuel ( C12 )

– Diesel ( C16 ) Sean MacEntee, flickr:smemonRon Cogswell,

flickr:22711505@N05

Californniagal22,

flickr:redwoodgal20

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

• 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

William Hartz, flickr:whartz

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– Enzymes

• Carbohydrates– Starches, sugars

• Lipids– -glyco-, -phospho-, -

sphigno-

– Oils, Fats, Fatty Acids, Sterols, Carotenoids…

source: nutritiondata.com

ProteinCarbohydrates

Lipids

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

Energy Density (MJ/kg)

TAG lipids 0.02 40.2 \

Phospholipids 0.10 35.3 | lipids avg = 34.9

Glycolipids 0.10 33.4 /

Protein 0.45 23.9

Polysaccharide 0.30 17.3

Nucleic acid 0.03 14.8

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

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Fuel

Algae Oil for biofuels

• Triglycerides

– Transesterification,

• FAME (biodiesel)

• Phospholipids

– Two energy-dense,

aliphatic fatty acid chains

– Phosphate group,

necessary algae nutrient

Non-polarHydrophobic

PolarHydrophillic

modified from Wikimedia

Commons:Franciscosp2

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 33%

• cost of energy $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

Wet Algae

• Phase separation of water-soluble 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

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1 min

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Algae Oil Extraction @ JHU

1) Mix

2) CentrifugeSolvent

Solvent

with

Algae oil

H2O &

Algae

H2O

Leftover

Algae

Algae Oil

Questions?