1. Ross Barnowski
Angela Liu
Duncan Clauson
Katie Peige
Logan Stephens

2. Algae need resources
Climate Water Carbon Dioxide Land
[+ Nutrients]
Algae Fuel

3. Site Selection
Just a few considerations:
 “Areas with more than 5% slope can be
effectively eliminated from consideration for
site development not only due to the intrinsic
needs of the technology, but also due to the
increased costs of site development.” – DOE
2009
 “Siting requirements for efficient microalgal
cultivation may rarely coincide with high-
volume point sources of CO2.” – DOE 2009

4. Site Selection – Wastewater
“Wastewater treatment facilities, for
example, tend to be near metropolitan
areas with high land prices and limited
land availability, and it is not practical to
transport wastewater over long
distances.” – DOE 2009

5. Ma’alaea Oil Power Plant -
Maui
 July 15, 2008 – 200 x 1000 m =
HR Biopetroleum 50 acres
collaborative
announced
planned algal
farm adjacent to
Ma'alaea Plant,
Maui.
 Satellite imagery
reveals potential
production site of
approximately 50
acres (enough to
supply 200-350
thousand
gal/year)

6. Site Selection – Challenges
To be successful the algal fuels industry must:
 Carefully choose sites that balance climate, water,

carbon dioxide, land, and nutrient requirements –
while ensuring and maintaining adequate levels of
each.
 Seek to integrate existing waste streams as input
streams for production processes (CO2,
wastewater and others).
 Work collaboratively with government and the
public sector to ensure public acceptance and
protect existing interests.

8. Technological Challenges:
Immature Technologies
Raceway Ponds – Invasive species
Photobioreactor – High capital cost
Algae Selection
Indigenous species and/or
bioengineered organisms mvm.uni-karlsruhe.de
High lipid production
Fast growth rate
Strained nutrient conditions
Other infrastructure
Nutrient and CO2 Sources
Wastewater? Oil Plant Emissions?

9. Challenges:
Represents ~30% of cost of producing algal biofuel
Extremely low biomass density
~1800 Gallons culture -> 1 Gallon biofuel
Known methods inadequate
Centrifugation = too expensive
High-temperature drying may degrade lipids
Suggested methods unproven on commercial scale
Flocculation and gravity settling

10. Reactions to convert lipids to biofuel exist
Transesterification  Biodiesel
Catalytic Hydroprocessing  Green gasoline, jet fuel, etc.
Challenges:
Large, commercial scale refining facilities required
Refining processes need to be optimized for algal lipid
feedstock
TAG

11. Many problems are well-defined and can be solved via
testing and applied research
Much is still unknown about algal ecosystems
Improve lipid content and algal yield
Improve robustness of desired strain or identify beneficial
relationships between strains
Lipid extraction
Creative approaches to avoid energy-intensive drying
process

12. Economic Analysis
Limits and Challenges
 Currently in R&D phase.
 It is difficult to do an economic analysis comparing the
price of algal biodiesel to petrol-diesel since biodiesel
is not being marketed and sold.

13. Goal of the Economic
Analysis
 To encourage investor confidence
 The goal is to raise money so further research can be
conducted.
 Investors in algal biofuels in Hawaii
 Oil companies
 Cellana LLC is a joint venture with HR Biopetroleum, University of
Hawai’I, and Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum
 Local companies
 Alexander & Baldwin
 Hawaiian Electric Company
 State and Federal Funding
 NELHA - invested $100-150 million
in 2009
 State and Federal Funding –
$645,000 for military jet fuel research

14. Biodiesel
Source Type of Reactor Biomass Cost
Cost ($/gal)
($/gal)
Benemann & Oswald RW 0.80 1.64
(1996) 0.49 1.00
Moline Grime et al. (2004) PBR 101.33
Moheimani (2005) RW 20.33
RW 15.67 - 23.00
van Harmelen & Oonk RW
(2006) 1.23 4.00
Chisti (2007) PBR 1.57 5.33
RW 2.00 6.83
Huntley & Redalje (2007) Hybrid 0.36 - 1.19 0.93 - 3.02
Carlsson et al. (2007) RW 6.67 - 50.00
Alabi et al. (2009) PBR 19.67
RW 7.13
Pienkos & Darzins (2009) 25.00
7.50
2.50
Present account Hybrid 1.19 - 2.17 3.00 - 11.67
Production Costs. RW = Open Raceway; PBR = Photobioreactor; Hybrid = RW + PBR
Adapted from Williams, P. and Laurens Microalgae as biodiesel & biomass feedstocks,
2010

15. Production Costs I
 Production of algae
 Open raceway
 Capital cost: ~$5,000 per unit
 Production cost: $0.80 - $50 /gal algae produced
 Photobioreactor
 Capital cost: ~$150,000 per unit
 Production cost: $1.57 – $101 /gal algae produced
 Hybrid
 Production cost: $1.19-$2.27/gal

16. Production Costs II
 CO2 source
 Coal-power plant or BioEnergy
Hawai’i LLC, a power plant that
uses commercial waste.
• Nutrient source
 Wastewater treatment plant
 Other ingredients like insolation
(sunlight) and water are plentiful in
Hawaii.
 Harvesting
 Expensive to centrifuge large
amounts of algae so research is
being done in flocculation and a
combination of both.

17. Production Costs III
 Production Costs are offset by the sale of Co-Products
From Zemke, Wood, & Dye, Technoeconomic Analysis of Algal Photobioreactors for Oil Production, Utah
State University
 MERA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Hawaiian Co.)
 Producing astaxanthin-based products: AstaFactor and AquaXan
 Photobioreactor capacity: 6,000 gallons (25,000 liters)
 AstaFactor is $29.95/bottle

18. Overall Production Costs vs
Price of Petroleum
 According to Pienkos and Darzins (2009), overall production
costs of biodiesel are:
 Low productivity: $25/gal biodiesel
 High productivity: $2.50/gal biodiesel
 Compared to the current cost of gasoline in Hawaii:
 $2.97/gal (US average is $2.29/gal)
 Compared to next most profitable oil:
 Palm oil: $2.50/gallon

20. Environmental Impacts of Corn-based
Ethanol
 Depletion of topsoil  Less land conserved in
 Soil nutrients depletion the Conservation Reserve
 Toxins from pesticides Program
 Eutrophication  High amounts of erosion
 Contamination of ground  Biodiversity disappears
water  CO2 from farm equipment
 Depletion of Aquifers

21. Air
 Locally grown: emission
reductions from not having to
ship oil to the islands
 Net Zero carbon: burned algae
fuel does not add additional CO2
to the atmosphere
 Reduction in other emissions
which leads to less smog and
respiratory illnesses
 CO2 is recycled from power
plants
 Growing algae adds more
oxygen to the air

22. Source:
http://www.giss.nasa.go
v/meetings/pollution200
2/d3_kaya.html

23. Water
 By using waste water to feed the algae, nitrogen and
phosphorus can be diverted from the water bodies to help
prevent problems such as dead zones.
 With a recycled source of water, water resources would not
be depleted

24. Land Use
 Algae farming takes
up considerable less
land than other
biofuels
 Algae does not need
farmable land to grow
so does not compete
with food sources
 Growing and
harvesting of algae is
not harsh on the land

25. Social and Policy Implications –
•Increased jobs and economic growth
•Private sector investment is currently estimated
at $1 Billion
•Continue to develop policy supportive of biofuels
•Value of CO2 capture in a possible
carbon market

26. Social and Policy Implications –
Policy Drivers
•US and Hawaiian Renewable Energy Initiatives
•Engages multiple stakeholders (Government, Academia, and Industry)
• Reduce potential for social
stress
•Co-siting with CO2 source or
Wastewater treatment
•Can be used on marginal
lands