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In This Issue
The Foresight Science & Technology Energy
Newsletter
A
Note From Foresight
A Slimy
Solution?
“Google May Build Green-Tech Power Plants.”
“Extreme Oil: Scraping the Bottom of Earth's Barrel.”
“Discovery May Lower Cost of Algae Biofuel.”
“KLM Biofuel Flight Fuels Hopes for Green Airlines.”
“Algae Turned Into High-Temperature Hydrogen Source.”
“Elusive Goal of Greening U.S. Energy.”
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Register for the DOE SBIR TAP Portal!
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A Note From Foresight Science & Technology
People
and governments worldwide have for some time been pinning their clean energy
hopes on biofuels, a renewable, “green” source of energy that can potentially
replace a significant portion of the fossil fuel currently used. But things
have not been so easy for the biofuels industry. Between the debate over
whether or not biofuel crops helped cause the 2008 spike in food prices and
the debate over the actual carbon footprint of conventional biofuels (made
from corn and sugarcane), the biofuels industry now certainly has its share
of detractors. One type of biofuel, however, is increasingly being looked to
as a better, more efficient, less environmentally impactful energy source-
algal biofuel, or biofuel derived from algae. In the article below, we take a
look at the algal biofuel industry, and examine both its upside and the
obstacles that stand between the industry today and large-scale production
tomorrow.
And
please remember, as a registered user of the DOE SBIR TAP portal, you have
access to market research, training and tools available nowhere else that
will be extremely helpful to you in writing SBIR proposals and commercializing
technologies. To access the portal, all you have to do is go to www.T2Plus2.com.
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directly at matt.wool@foresightst.com.
Enjoy
the newsletter!
Matt
Wool
VP,
Software & Internet Products
Foresight
Science & Technology
A Slimy Solution?
The Promise and the Challenges of Algae-Based
Biofuels
Biofuels
have been an oft-promised solution to the world’s insatiable appetite for
oil. The ultimate goal is to turn natural, locally grown feedstock into
inexpensive and widely available fuels that are compatible with existing
modes of transportation, distribution and storage. However, it now appears
that much work remains to be done before certain types of highly touted biofuels,
such as cellulosic ethanol, have a real impact on the domestic or global
energy picture. In light of this, more attention has turned to
non-traditional areas of the market, such as algal biofuel, which may actually
hold more promise for making widespread biofuel use a reality.
The global
market for liquid biofuel was estimated by BCC Research to be $30.3 billion
in 2008, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.2%. Furthermore, biodiesel
feedstock markets worldwide are in transition from first generation feedstock
such as soy, rapeseed, and palm oil, to alternative, lower cost, non-food
feedstock. As a result, a surge in demand for alternative feedstock is
driving new growth opportunities in the biofuel sector. However, despite this
apparently buoyant market, biofuel derived from algae is still in the
pre-commercial phase. Large-scale algal biofuel production is not expected to
occur until sometime between 2012 and 2020, as the U.S. aims to replace 30 percent of its transportation fuel
with biofuel by 2030– with advanced biofuels such as algal making up a
significant portion of this amount. Several 2009 proposals on Capitol
Hill were introduced to help catalyze this process, including one that seeks the
development of a Department of Energy technology roadmap that outlines a path
to algal biofuel commercialization.
Although the algal biofuel market is still in its infancy, its
numerous advantages are helping to drive on-going development. For example,
of all the biofuels currently being researched, algal biofuel may have the
greatest potential to replace petroleum-derived transport fuels without
adversely impacting food and agricultural supplies. This is because it does
not compete for the land and water needed to grow food crops, an issue that
is becoming a challenge to traditional biofuel production, especially as demand for biofuels in the U.S., European Union, and Asia
begins to exceed the agricultural capacity of these regions to produce
feedstock. Furthermore, crop-based biofuels
are highly inefficient compared to algae, which can yield 100 times more oil
per acre than any other terrestrial oil-producing crop.
Despite
the enormous potential of algae-based biofuel, numerous barriers remain. Cost
has been a major issue, since algal biofuel made with existing methods has
been estimated at $8 to $20 per gallon, due in part to high development and
operating costs. These high costs will most likely slow adoption the of new
algal biofuel technology. Furthermore, there is still a lack of understanding
regarding algae strains, their lipid pathways, and what regulates lipid
production and growth. This hampers the ability to develop algal biofuel production
technology on the scale necessary to truly make a dent in the U.S.’s energy
consumption needs.
There is
no doubt that the numerous challenges facing the successful commercialization
of algal biofuel will continue to require extensive R&D. Cost,
scalability, technological know-how and fundamental scientific understanding still
pose challenges to algal-biofuel related technologies, and although numerous
companies such as Solazyme, OriginOil, PetroAlgae and Diversified Energy have
begun working on bringing algal biofuel to the public, there is still no
scalable, commercially viable method of production available. However, if the
challenges can be overcome, the benefits will likely be significant, given
the advantages of algal biofuel and the enactment of recent federal policies,
such as the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which are pushing
for greatly increased domestic use of biofuels.
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