Algae and their possible usages

Example of Water Colture

Definition

Algae is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular micro-algae to multicellular forms. Most are aquatic and autotrophic, they generate food internally, and lack many of the distinct cell and tissue types, such as stomata, xylem and phloem, that are found in land plants.

These simple organisms can constitute an efficient response against pollution and climate change.

Algae as Energy

Energy Crisis. Oil Shortage. Sticker shock at the pump. We are all aware of the fact that the world’s oil reserves, all 13,64 tera-liters of it, will one day be used up. And, at the rate the world consumes energy, this day is coming fast.

One way in which humanity is beginning to deal with dwindling energy reserves is by accessing biomass fuels, such as algae, made through a process similar to the conversion of oil from organic materials. The main difference is that biomass fuels take days instead of millions of years. This potential for rapid production, combined with the potential to produce an infinite amount of biomass, leads to a theoretically infinite energy source.

Then environmental question

Another big advantage is that algae feeds on the toxins produced in manufacturing. This means that this new fuel source mankind can both reduce the amount of toxicity in the environment while also helping clean up toxins already present.

The Changelings

There are several key issues surrounding this fuel source:

1. the first is a concept called Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROI), which deals with the economics of producing a specific type of energy and is expressed as a ratio; conventional oil has a ratio of 105505,6 Joule of energy produced for every 1055,056 Joule spent (that means 100:1). At its most energy-intensive, conventional oil is 15:1. Currently, the EROI for algae-based biofuel is 1.06:1 because of the massive cost needed to start and maintain the crop, as well as to convert the crop into oil.
2. the other challenge to the fuel is that in the wild, algae do not produce the massive lipid content needed to obtain an efficient transfer into oil.

Micro Algae

The Response

So how do we overcome these difficulties, and should we even try? The answer is “yes” to both, in fact in the world of biofuel, there are people solving these problems:

1. the issue of a low EROI is being addressed by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, who recently patented a process that converts algae to bio-crude in an hour with a 50% return. Their process also eliminates the drying and chemical extraction processes, two of the largest roadblocks to producing biofuel from algae.
2. An upstart company called Culture Fuels is developing a more efficient growing system that uses partially submerged plastic bags, pumped full of a nutrients and CO2-rich slurry. This system combines open field propagation, which is relatively cheap despite the large area required, and closed bioreaction, which allows for control over invasive species. The researchers also claim that the system can be used in a “semi-continuous” manner, harvesting 60% of the crop every 6 days.
3. To combat the relatively low presence of lipids in the individual organisms, companies such as Solazyme Inc. are experimenting with selective breeding, genetic modification and fermentation processes to increase the yield.

The economic question

Under the economical point if view, algae-advocate groups hope to make biomass fuels down to conventional gas prices. If they succede these cleaner fuels would have a huge competitive advantage over conventional fuels, without considering the fact that because of the large availability of the raw materials and the, relative, facility to extract the oil, biomass fuels would never be subjected to the price’s volatility of conventional fuels.

In 2021 the “Algae’s Global Market” was evaluated in 20,16 billion US$ and it is estimated to growth at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10,9% from 2022 to 2031 up to 55,7 billion US$.

The other usages of algae

Algae are a very versatile organisms which can help us fighting pollution in more than the way exposed above:

1. as mentioned algae are able to product oxygen through chlorophyll photosynthesis, but the difference with plants is that these simple organisms can do it in a more efficient way, in fact a square carpet of algae with a surface of 1 m2 can absorb 22kg of CO2 pour year, the same amount of an average adult tree, this is why some researches are developing air and water filters with algae;
2. the slurry resulted after the pressure of algae for the obtaining of fuel is rich of proteins and it can be used as food for breedings instead of land which can be designated for human cultivations;
3. due to their chemical structure algae are able to absorb heavy metals which contaminate waters and are dangerous for animals’ Nervous system;
4. the algae cultivation doesn’t require as water as the one of plants in the land;
5. some polypeptides extracted by algae can be used to synthesise bioplastic;
6. algae can be a very efficient food, although it is not a recent discover because oriental cuisine makes a large use of it.