2012

Student ID: 1155564 Module : BS937 Bioproduct Plant Design & Economic Analysis
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PROSPECTS OF BIOFUEL IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Brief review on the production of biofuels using Microalgae in USA.

Introduction:
Currently USA is the worlds largest producer of Biofuels overtaking Brazil in 2005 with annual production of more than 802 million gallons of biofuel. This biofuel is mostly produced as ethanol from corn and then blended with petrol. In order to produce the raw material corn we need large areas of land. Using a food crop for fuel production has increased the global food prices creating a Food vs. fuel dilemma. Alternative to this technology is using non-edible raw materials for the production of biofuels using Microalgae.

Microalgae:
Microalgae are microscopic unicellular algae that are typically found in fresh water or marine ecosystems. Just like all algae they produce their own nutrients by photosynthesis. But recently heterotrophic microalga that can grow in the dark using sugars have been established. These microalgae can been grown in fermenters in industrial scale to produce algae oil.

Advantage of using heterotrophic Microalgae:

Unlike Traditional algae production we dont need large areas of land or an open pond. Since these algae grow in a fermenter they tend to grow in a relatively higher Growth parameters such as temperature l, pH, nutrients and oxygen can be controlled The algae oil has higher fuel density giving 30% more mileage in a diesel engine than a gasoline or ethanol gasoline blended oil Commercially developed microalgae are highly productive producing >80% oil content The biggest advantage is that we dont need to change the existing diesel engine unlike bioethanol using E85 engine.

Principle:

The principle for algal oil production is the simple fermentation process where the algae produce the oil at optimum conditions in the fermenter.

Raw material:
The microalgae require sugar for growing in the fermenter. Even though the production process does not require sunlight, still we need sunlight for the production of raw materials. We can use any sugar for the production of algal oil. Generally in order to maintain the process sustainable we use depolymerized cellulose in the form of corn Stover, switch grass and also wood chips. Glycerol produced from biodiesel engines can also be used. Currently we can source our sugars from next-generation sugar producers like BlueFire Energy. This company produces sugars from agricultural waste products, recycled paper, and other sources of biomass.