Algae are emerging to be one of the most promising long-term, sustainable sources of biomass and oils for fuel, food, feed, and other co-products. What makes them so attractive are the large number and wide variety of benefits associated with how and where they grow.
Nearly all these benefits stem from the fact that these plants have evolved over billions of years to produce and store energy in the form of oil, and they do this more efficiently than any other known natural or engineered process.
Here are 10 reasons why algae are a promising new source of fuel and other products:
1) Algae Grow Fast Algae can double their numbers every few hours, can be harvested daily, and have the potential to produce a volume of biomass and biofuel many times greater than that of our most productive crops.
2) Algae Can Have High Biofuel Yields Algae store energy in the form of oils and carbohydrates, which, combined with their high productivity, means they can produce from 2,000 to as many as 5,000 gallons of biofuels per acre per year.
3) Algae Consume CO2 Like any other plant, algae, when grown using sunlight, consume (or absorb) carbon dioxide (CO2) as they grow, releasing oxygen (O2) for the rest of us to breathe. For high productivity, algae require more CO2, which can be supplied by emissions sources such as power plants, ethanol facilities, and other sources.
4) Algae Do Not Compete With Agriculture Algae cultivation uses both land that in many cases is unsuitable for traditional agriculture, as well as water sources that are not useable for other crops, such as sea-, brackish- and wastewater. As such, algae-based fuels complement biofuels made from traditional agricultural processes.
5) Microalgal Biomass Can Be Used for Fuel, Feed and Food Microalgae can be cultivated to have a high protein and oil content, for example, which can be used to produce either biofuels or animal feeds, or both. In addition, microalgal biomass, which is rich in micronutrients, is already used for dietary supplements to advance human health.
6) Macroalgae Can Be Grown in the Sea Macroalgae (seaweeds) are grown in the sea, or even on land with seawater, and their sugars can be converted into biofuels and chemicals.
7) Algae Can Purify Wastewaters Algae thrive in nutrient-rich waters like municipal waste waters (sewage), animal wastes and some industrial effluents, at the same time purifying these wastes while producing a biomass suitable for biofuels production.
8) Algal Biomass Can Be Used as an Energy Source After oil extraction, the remaining algal biomass can be dried and “pelletized” and used as fuel that is burned in industrial boilers and other power generation sources.
9) Algae Can Be Used to Produce Many Useful Products Algae can be cultivated to produce a variety of products for large to small markets: plastics, chemical feedstocks, lubricants, fertilizers, and even cosmetics. See other products algae is used for here.
10) The Algae Industry is a Job Creation Engine Algae can grow in a wide variety of climates in a multitude of production methods, from ponds to photobioreactors to fermenters, and thus will create a wide variety of jobs throughout the United States, from research to engineering, from construction to farming, from marketing to financial services.
The mission is to develop cost effective and environmentally attractive means of generating fuels, chemicals, materials, foods and feeds from bioenergy.
Why Do We Think This Mission is Possible?
Because of people. This is how we will accomplish our mission.
Scientists
Bob Blankenship, PhD, Professor, Washington University; Director, PARC
Goran Berndes, Chalmers University
David Bransby, PhD, Auburn University School of Agronomy & Soils
Dr. David Bressler, University of Alberta
Robert Brown, PhD, Professor, Iowa State University
Shulin Chen, PhD, Professor, Washington State University
George Church, PhD, Professor, Harvard University
Keith Cooksey, PhD, Professor, Montana State University
Charles Cooney, PhD, Professor, MIT
Bruce Dale, PhD, Michigan State University
Jim Dumesic, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tom Foust, PhD, NREL; Director, National Advanced Biofuels Consortium
Professor Alexandre Donato Gomes Aranda
Peter B. Heifetz, Ph.D. Principal, Heifetz BioConsulting
Dr. Rafael Hernandez, Professor, Mississippi State University
Dr. George Huber, University of Wisconsin
Steve Kay, PhD, Professor, UCSB
Jay Keasling, PhD, Professor, UC Berkeley
Lee Lynd, PhD, Professor of Engineering, Dartmouth College
Stephen Mayfield, PhD, Professor, UCSD
Bernard McMahon, University of Minnesota
Greg Mitchell, PhD, Professor, Scripps Instituion of Oceanography
Dr. Karen Rodgers Newell, Professor, Texas A&M
Jose Olivares, PhD, Director, National Alliance For Advanced Biofuels and Bio-Products
Philip Pienkos, PhD, NREL
Dr. Susan Pond, Adjunct Professor, Center for U.S. Studies, Dow Sustatinability program, University of Sidney.
Kristala Jones Prather, Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tim Rials, Professor and Director, Univ. of Tennessee Center for Renewable Carbon
Pamela Silver, Harvard
Chris Somerville, PhD, Professor, UC Berkeley Director, EBI
Glenn Steele, Director, Sustainable Energy Research Center
David Tilman, PhD, Professor, University of Minnesota
Stefan Unnasch, Managing Director of Life C
Guido Zacchi, PhD, Professor, Lund University
ycle Associates, LLC
Emile Van Zyl, PhD, Professor, Stellenbosch University
Larry Walker, PhD, Cornell University, Co-Editor of Industrial Biotechnology Magazine, Dir. of NE Sun Grant Institute
Michael Wang, Section Leader, Systems Assessments, Argonne National Laboratory
Charles Wyman, PhD, Professor, UC Riverside
Association/ NGO executives
Andreas Ablaev, President, Russian Biofuels Association
Rich Altman, Exec Director Emeritus, CAAFI
Bliss Baker, MD, Global Renewable Fuels Alliance
Heather Brodie, CEO, Biofuels Association of Australia
Tom Buis, President, Growth Energy
Matt Carr, MD, BIO
Wesley Clark, Co-chairman, Growth Energy
Bob Cleaves, President, Biomass Power Association
Barry Cohen, Executive Director, National Algae Association
Bob Dinneen, President, Renewable Fuels Association
Doug Durante, Clean Fuels Development Coalition
Brent Erickson, VP Industrial Biotechnology, BIO
Rafaello Garofalo, Secretary General, European Biodiesel Board
Michael Goergen, President, Society of American Foresters
Julio Guillen, President, Asociacion Peruana de Productores de Azucar y Biocombustibles
Jorge Gutierrez, Federacion Nacional de Biocombustibles
Richard Hahn, President, 25x25
John Heimlich, Chief Economist, Airlines for America
Bill Holmberg, ACORE Biomass Coordinating Council
Steve Howell, Technical Director, National Biodiesel Board
Joanne Ivancic, Exec Dir, Advanced Biofuels USA
Joe Jobe, CEO, National Biodiesel Board
Gene Jones, Exec. Director, Southern Waste Information Exchange
Alwin Kopse, Exec. Director, Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels
Anne Korin, Exec. Director, Set America Free Coalition
Gal Luft, Exec. Director, Institute for the Analysis of Global Security
Alfredo Langesfeld, President. Argentine Renewable Energy Chamber
Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute
Andrew Makenete, President, Southern African Biofuels Association
Daniel Martinez, Presidente, ANCAP
Michael McAdams, President, Advanced Biofuels Association
Amilkar Acosta Medina, President, Colombian National Federation of Biofuels
Sean OHanlon, Executive Director, American Biofuels Council
Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, Acting CEO and Technical Director of the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA)
Zeljko Serdar, President, Croatian Center of RES
Mary Rosenthal, Exec Dir, Algal Biomass Organization
Thomas Rotger, IATA
Peter Schrum, President, BBK
Jim Stewart, President, Bioenergy Producers Association
David Tenny, President, National Assn. of Forest Owners
D.K.J. Tommel, President, Netherlands Bioenergy Association
Nivaldo Trama, President, Associacao Brasileira das Industrias de Biodiesel
Tom Verry, National Biodiesel Board, Director of Outreach and Development
Rob Vierhout, Secretary General, EBIO
Carol Werner, EESI Exec. Director
Philip Wolfe, CEO, UK Renewable Energy Association
Nancy Young, VP, Environmental Affairs, Airlines for America
Rolf Fiebig Zarges, Asociacion Chilena de Energias Renovables
Company executives
Brad Albin, CTO, REG
Danny Allison, Sustainability Manager, Abengoa Bioenergy
Bob Ames, Vice President, Fuels Commercialization, Solazyme
Alex Aravanis, VP of Sapphire Energy
Michael Arbige, PhD, Dupont Industrial Biosciences
Carol Babb, Director, Renewable Generation Group R. W. Beck/SAIC
Paal Bakken, CEO, Seaweed Energy Solutions
Dennis Banasiak, CEO, Avello Bioenergy
John Benemann, PhD, CEO, Benemann Associates
Eli Gal, CTO, Primus Green Energy
Nitin Baliga, ISB
Bill Baum, Chairman, Genomatica
Paul Beckwith, CEO, Butamax
Doug Berven, Director, Corporate Affairs, POET
Bill Brady, CEO, Mascoma
Jeff Broin, Chairman, POET
Mark Broses, Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc -- Principal
As oil prices continue to rise, fuel and chemical industries look for alternative ways to produce products. These products include fine and bulk chemicals, solvents, bio-plastics, vitamins, food additives, bio-pesticides and liquid biofuels such as bio-ethanol and bio-diesel. Industrial biotechnology applies the tools of biology to develop innovative processes and products in a cost-efficient and eco-efficient manner, using sustainable feed stocks.
CCRES is a member-based non-profit organization with membership open to research institutions, public and private sector organizations, students, and individuals. Every day, CCRES supporters fight to make environmental education, clean energy solutions, and the green economy a reality.
The mission of CCRES ALGAE PROJECT is to support development of innovative, sustainable, and commercially viable algae-based biotechnology solutions for energy, green chemistry, bio-products, water conservation, and CO2 abatement challenges.
Why join CCRES ? CCRES ALGAE is vital to CCRES mission and offers entrepreneurs and companies, large and small alike, a unique opportunity to actively participate in shaping the algae biotechnology research agenda for our future.Joining with commercial partners will propel research discoveries into energy and economic solutions for Croatian sustainable future.
Annual Memberships To become a member, please CLICK HERE!
Additional Benefits
Invitations to CCRES seminars, tours, lunches and other special events. Advance notice of joint-funding opportunities. Access to CCRES facilities. Receipt of E-Newsletter. Recognition and logo presence for CCRES websites. Ability to sponsor additional fellowships, meetings or seminars. A seat on the CCRES Advisory Board. Exclusive invitations to events. Listing on the CCRES webpage and blogs. High-profile inclusion in CCRES marketing materials. CROATIAN CENTER of RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES (CCRES)
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