The D-Factory: a CO 2 Microalgae Biorefinery

Transcription

1 The D-Factory: a CO 2 Microalgae Biorefinery Professor P.J. Harvey p.j.harvey@gre.ac.uk

2 Talk outline A UK Glycerol-CHP Case study Biodiesel-glycerol Algae-glycerol The D-Factory

3 Losses in global energy conversion & power delivery Source: IEA 2008 Conversion Coal-fired power station ~ 30-35% efficiency Own use Transmission Distribution TWh

4 Decentralised power and heat/cooling distribution with biofuel-chp 15% flue 5% radiation loss 50% heat 37-48% electricity

5 Carbon Management Plan Requires CO 2 emissions to be reduced 30% by 2016 from a 2009/10 baseline. 40% by 2020 from 2009/2010 Goal: 6,000 tonnes per annum

6 Glycerol-CHP First in the World Faculty of Engineering & Science running on Biofuel CHP

7 Glycerol Water-soluble Non-flammable Non-volatile Glycerol H High boiling point Biologically produced Bio-degradable H H H O O O C C C H H H H

8 Used cooking oil

9 For continuous power & heat production 410kW electrical 450kW thermal Glycerol CHP Gas CHP CO 2 savings (tonnes pa) ~2,600 ~1,300 Costs (savings) pa over business as usual *- 100, ,000 * Assumes 2 ROCs for glycerol CHP. 8,000 h operation would require ~1,800 tonnes of glycerol per year

10 Glycerol market / t glycerol mt glycerol World glycerol production World glycerol price

11 t -1 ~ waste Specifications vary Source Pharma grade Crude- Soybean oil (TX-USA) Glycerol (%) Water (%) Methanol (%) Not detected ph NaCl (%) Ash (%) Fatty Acids (%) Crude-Tallow Required >98.5 <1.5 Not > Not regulated regulated

12 Glycerol clean-up needed Vacuum distillation Energy-intensive technology Ion exchange Uneconomic resin regeneration New approaches / schemes

13 Algae Microalgae High productivity potential: Biomass doubling times in hours Macroalgae >1000 species, infinite strains, all habitats

14 Algal raceway Dunaliella salina 1 st Energy Crisis 1975, Glycerol Algal Farm, 500 hectares in Sinai Halophyte ~50-85% dw glycerol t d = ~15 h

15 Or photobioreactor

16 Or lake

17 Challenge 1: How much? Average Biomass dry matter yield g m -2 d Glycerol % in dry matter % 80 Days per year operational days 350 Annual production T ha -1 y rape palm oil algae Algal glycerol 850 GJ ha -1 Palm oil 219 GJ ha -1 Rape oil 38 GJ ha -1 1,800 tonnes of glycerol per year: ~ 50 Ha

18 Challenge 2: Cost? 0.5 Ha raceway, 3.5 tonnes biomass/raceway/annum Cost ( /yr) Glycerol only Energy for process 880,147 Algae cultivation 539,928 Glycerol ( 250/t) 48,305 Electricity ( 0.100/KW) Fertilizers (N,P,K, Fe) and other chemicals Domestic Land City Taxes, Manpower, fresh water CO 2 400/tonne (cost not included) Sea Water ( 0.25/m3(

19 NBT Eilat, courtesy A Ben-Amotz

20 Cost ( /yr) Glycerol only Glycerol & β-carotene Optimize 2 Optimize 3 Solvents Ethanol Cyclohexane n-hexane Alum/Ferric Chloride Trichloroethane Energy Cultivation Products Glycerol β-carotene Profit/loss -1.4m 9.3m 7.7m 10.4m NTUA: Process integration still to be undertaken

21 The D-Factory for glycerol KBBE (No: ) million Euro FP7-funded project partners from 8 countries 2 universities 3. Flexibly and sustainably produce suites of compounds from algae to meet market requirements. 4. Showcase a sustainable biorefinery: demo /8

22 New strains of halophytes New isolates of halophytic algae are being profiled for use in D-Factory sites Dunaliella Asteromonas

23 Tuning algae Smith et al. BMC Plant Biology :83 doi: / Mitochondrial 28.3kb 12 genes ~1.5 introns /gene Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Dunaliella salina Volvox carteri Plastid 269 kb 102 genes: 66 protein-coding ~0.4 introns /gene

24 Glycerol pg/cell Tuning algae: glycerol culture transfer 3M NaCl 4M NaCl 1M NaCl Time (min)

25 Tuning algae: glycerol cycle

26 Cultivation in raceways New raceways are being equipped with novel harvesting technology to concentrate fragile cells intact Pilot raceway at NBT Eilat

27 Eye spot (?) Nucleus Nucleolus Mitochondria Starch Pyrenoid β-carotene globules Chloroplast Golgi osmotic glycerol Vacuole elastic cytoplasmic membrane, no cell-wall. TEM of Dunaliella to show cellular structures and distribution of β carotene and glycerol courtesy A Ben-Amotz

28 % of initial quantity of intact cells or % glycerol Harvesting fragile cells 100.0% 80.0% Spiral Plate Technology 60.0% 40.0% 20.0% 0.0% applied g force Recovery of intact cells in cell biomass Recovery of total glycerol in cell biomass Loss of total glycerol from cell biomass >90% Dunaliella cells harvested intact, without evidence of shearing.

29 Processing cell extracts with membranes Membrane bioreactors, FPLC & LC-MS recover peptides, proteins Pilot membrane unit ( m2; spiral-wound; cross flow) FPLC recovers proteins, enzymes

30 Processing cell extracts with ScCO2 Ultrahigh (1000 bar) pressures with CO 2 extract carotenes, xanthophylls, PUFA s, vitamins, chlorophyll

31 Processing cell extracts with solvents using HPCCC 4.6l -18l CCC machines recover compounds based on solubility in solvents

32 Global production of glycerol in a D-Factory

33 Vision for the future?

34 Summary Glycerol: a biofuel by-product from biodiesel manufacture, for which clean-up technology needs to be implemented Biorefineries: find solutions for the entire biomass, they offer efficiency in costs and sustainability Microalga Dunaliella: produces glycerol and nutraceuticals in saline non-potable water By 2020: Algae factories meet market requirements and stringent sustainability criteria

35 Acknowledgements