UNIVERSITY OF

CAMBRIDGE

Biofuels from Plants and Algae

Alison Smith
Dept of Plant Sciences

Algal Bioenergy Consortium

http://www.bioenergy.cam.ac.uk/abc.html
Plants and Algae as source of Fuel

• The need to consider alternatives to

fossil fuel

• Principles of biofuel production

• Factors to enable production of algal

biofuels
- Production of algal biomass
- Extraction of fuel molecules
- Coproducts, CO2 sequestration
Temperatures increase markedly from mid 20th century

• Average of 0.15oC per decade since 1970s

www.metoffice.com/research/hadleycenter
Unprecedented increase in atmospheric CO2

www.metoffice.com/research/hadleycenter
World energy use

• Currently 15 x 1012 W (TW), estimated 25 TW in 2050

TW

image from Frank van Mierlo

U.S. Dept of Energy statistics, 2006

Potential of renewable energy sources

1000000

100000

10000

1000

TW 100

10

0.1
Hydro Tides & Wind Geothermal Solar Predicted
currents need in 2050

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_resources_and_consumption
Use of biomass is theoretically carbon neutral

Sunlight

CO2

Photosynthesis “Combustion”

Storage/structural
polysaccharides
& lipids Work
Solar energy into plant biomass

Light

Plant
biomass

Bulk biomass Different components can be

extracted from the biomass

Burnt directly Thermochemical

to produce conversion to Carbohydrate Lipids and
electricity syngas products hydrocarbons

Bioethanol /
biobutanol Biodiesel
Land availability is theoretically enough

• At 1% photosynthetic efficiency, 13 TW produced

Water
70.9%

Land
29.0%

5% of land (650 Mha)

• Productivity of energy crops not optimized

Biomass for transport fuels

• EU Biofuel directive
- 5.75% by 2010
- 10% by 2020

• UK Renewable Transport Fuel

Obligation (RTFO)
- requires 2.5% from 15 April 2008

• Estimated 15% of EU arable land

could provide 10% biofuel

http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport/
Production of plants for biofuels poses problems

• Environmental considerations
• Water use
• Increased CO2/NOx release from soil disturbance

• Economic and social issues

- Competition with food crops
Second generation biofuels offer improvements

• Currently fuel derived from edible part of plant

Starch or oil stored in seeds

• Most plant biomass is in cell walls

Cellulose, hemicellulose, lignins

• Half of UK wheat crop is straw

• Major technological developments needed

- Understand structure, identify
degradative enzymes, manipulate proportions

Courtesy of Steve Long, University of Illinois

Algal biomass is an alternative

Light

CO2 from power

Algal Waste water
stations/other
industries biomass from industry

Bulk Biomass Different components

can be extracted from
the biomass

• Don’t compete with crop plants

• Rate of algal growth > land plants Carbohydrate Lipids and

hydrocarbons
• Some strains make very high
amounts of fuel molecules
Bioethanol /
biobutanol Biodiesel
Algal biofuel operations

• Increasing number of
commercial R&D ventures
Constraints for commercialisation of algal biofuels

Solix “algal farm”, from

Popular Science, July 2007

• Algal strain identification • Harvesting, processing,

waste products
• Photobioreactors versus open ponds
- costs of manufacture and operation • Fuel characteristics
- contamination

• Public acceptance
• Algal physiology
- biomass production, lipid production, high
value products
Algae grown now for high-value products

Light

Algal
biomass

Different components
Extraction of high
can be extracted from
value products
the biomass

Food industry Aquaculture Lipids and

Carbohydrate
eg β-carotene, hydrocarbons
omega-3 oils

Bioethanol /
biobutanol Biodiesel
Constraints unlikely to be equivalent

Photobioreactor
design
(eg open/closed)
CO2 from
industry

Light Select/modify Harvesting Processing

algal strains

Waste
water Waste
Optimise algal Fuel -
products
growth biodiesel,
bioethanol
etc

Currently, major problem is getting enough biomass --> ie serious

bottleneck
Yields of algae
45 450

• CO2 capture by Chlorella vulgaris 40 400

35 350

• Efficient at low light intensity 30 300

Solar Irradiance (12 hour average - W/m2)

CO2 sequestered (g/m2/day)
25 250

20 200
• Growth in winter limited by
temperature 15 150

10 100

5 50

0 0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

CO2 capture Solar Irradiance

Under these conditions current strains of Chlorella vulgaris

could sequester ~100 te/ha of CO2 per year

So need 100 ha to sequester 1% of power station CO2

Reduction of antenna size would increase efficiency

Cells with reduced

Rate of antenna size
photosynthesis
Increased
efficiency

Wild type cells

Light intensity

Smaller antenna Thicker culture Greater biomass/ha

Light conversion efficiency might triple

Constraints are interlinked

eg. Changing strain to increase biomass

Photobioreactor might impact negatively on harvesting
design
(eg open/closed)
CO2 from
industry

Light Select/modify Harvesting Processing

algal strains

Waste
water Waste
Optimise algal Fuel -
products
growth biodiesel,
bioethanol
etc

For large scale implementation - integration

of biology and engineering will be vital
Integration may lead to novel solutions

Photobioreactor
design
(eg open/closed)
CO2 from
industry

Light Select/modify Harvesting Processing

algal strains

Waste
water Waste
Optimise algal Fuel -
products
growth biodiesel,
bioethanol
etc

Harvesting considerations built into photobioreactors

High lipid content can be induced by feeding sugars

Additional products and/or benefits

Photobioreactor
design
(eg open/closed)
Flue gases

Light Select/modify Harvesting Processing

algal strains

Waste
Waste Fuel -
water
products biodiesel,
Optimise algal
bioethanol
growth
etc

High value products -

pigments, vaccines

Coproducts may provide additional revenue

Flue gases to deliver CO2 and low-grade heat to promote growth

Strategic Aims of the Algal Bioenergy Consortium (ABC)

Develop algae as a source of biofuels

3 priority areas

Light energy into

Production of
Algal hydrogen electricity using
biomass and/or
production biophotovoltaic
biofuels
panels

Increasing public understanding of

opportunities and challenges
in bioenergy research
Current projects - integrating biology & engineering

• Control of photosynthetic apparatus assembly

• Metabolic engineering of fuel molecules

• Efficient photobioreactor design

Photobioreactor Optimisation of
design algal strains
and operation

Together this will provide

Life-cycle analysis increased algal productivity,
unique biofuels,
and reduce costs
Members of the Algal Bioenergy Consortium (ABC)

Biology & Energy Futures Lab

Biochemistry Prof Chris Howe
Prof Peter Nixon
Dr Derek Bendall
Dr Beatrix Schlarb-Ridley

Chemical Engineering Dr John Dennis

Dr Adrian Fisher

Engineering Dr Stuart Scott

Biology Dr Saul Purton
Plant Sciences Prof Alison Smith

Other Collaborators Prof Johnathan

H+ Energy Ltd Napier
Prof Sue Harrison, University of Cape Town
Prof Nick Collings, Engineering, Cambridge