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Page added on February 8, 2014
PNNL makes crude oil from algae
Science doesn’t smell sweet in the lab used by Douglas Elliott at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.
It has the odor that might be expected from a combination of rotting eggs, dirty socks and burning wood.
In Elliott’s lab, a bucket of dark green algae slurry is pumped into a chemical reactor that reaches from floor to ceiling. The complex system of tubes uses intense heat and pressure to break apart solid elements, transforming algae into liquid crude oil in less than an hour.
The process of pressure cooking certain oily algae into biofuel, much as nature does over millions of years, is not a new idea for biofuel researchers. But engineers at PNNL are simulating the method at a much more rapid and continuous rate, churning out several liters of algae oil per day.
That’s hardly enough to make a dent in U.S. oil consumption, which last year reached almost 19 million barrels per day. But companies are showing interest in using PNNL’s technology to ramp up to commercial-scale production.
With additional refining, crude oil from algae can be converted into mostly gasoline or diesel fuel. Elliott, the laboratory fellow who led team research on the project, said people should be excited about the long-term potential of fuels from alternative sources like algae.
“We won’t be pumping oil forever. We have to figure out a renewable system,” Elliott said. “That’s what this biomass is all about.”
A team of PNNL scientists and engineers, who were part of a consortium across laboratories across the nation, spent about three years exploring ways to efficiently make algae fuel. Cost is still a major hurdle, as most processes require expensive energy to first dry the material.
But the reactor built at PNNL works with a soupy algae paste that’s made up of 80 percent to 90 percent water. The system runs at 350 degrees and 3,000 pounds per square inch of pressure to produce water and oil from the algae, a process called hydrothermal liquefaction.
In a sense, the process mimics what happens beneath the Earth’s surface over millions of years as algae forced underground is heated and pressurized into petroleum.
And because the system runs continuously, Elliott said it is more energy and cost-efficient than processing dried algae in batches. Leftover water and nutrients can be recycled to grow more algae.
“It’s not a perfectly efficient process, but we get a much higher yield of both liquid and gas fuels,”Elliott said. “We aren’t adding any special chemicals. It’s just heating it up under pressure.”
Growing enough algae is another challenge entirely, Elliott said. Algae grows easily, but gathering enough feedstock to meet fuel requirements is difficult, he said.
The good news, Elliott said, is algae can be grown just about anywhere.
“This is the problem we have with biomass,” he said. “Getting enough to have any impact, especially when we’re just starting out, is very difficult.”
PNNL recently published its findings, and a Utah-based company has licensed the technology to build a pilot plant. Genifuel Corp. also has worked with the lab to develop the complementary process turning algae or wastewater into natural gas, known as catalytic hydrothermal gasification.
“This really has been a fruitful collaboration,” said Genifuel president Jim Oyler in a statement. “It’s a formidable challenge to make biofuel that’s cost-competitive with established petroleum-based fuels. This is a huge step in the right direction.”
17 Comments on "PNNL makes crude oil from algae"
peakyeast on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 1:51 pm
Now if you take the biomass we normally put back into nature and convert it into energy, pollute the biomass or grow more humans – Where is more biomass coming from then?
AFAIK it takes nature a godawful long time to recreate just one inch of fertile topsoil. And it certainly wont happen at the same time we are chopping up everything and devouring it.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 3:34 pm
Too little too late. If anything a niche energy source that relies on complexity and energy intensity to achieve. No solution to the bigger picture.
Arthur on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 4:02 pm
Should at least give a pause to think to all those who insist that you need fossil fuel to maintain a renewable energy base. Here is your fossil fuel. No, we are not going to power 1 billion cars with it, but at least we can drive a huge crane up the hill to install yet another 5 MW wind turbine.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 4:07 pm
arthur good luck with that when the experience expert people essential to all the complex parts of your example have no way to get there. I guess they will use the Algea diesel too and the mechanics who repair the cars…so on…so on……
meld on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 4:33 pm
Arthur, your bargaining is painful for the rest of us to watch. Hopefully you’ll come through it unscathed as you could be a useful addition to the team.
J-Gav on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 5:22 pm
“Several liters of algae oil per day.” Wow!
Uses lots of water (guess they won’t be scaling this up in California); “The system runs at 350° and 3000 lbs per sq inch of pressure.” Not surprising that “cost is still a major hurdle.”
So much good news at one time is almost more than I can handle …
Kenz300 on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 5:30 pm
Sustainable energy is the future……….
Wind, solar, wave energy, geothermal and second generation biofuels made from algae, cellulose and waste are growing in use around the world.
The transition to safer, cleaner and cheaper forms of energy production continues.
Dave Thompson on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 5:40 pm
Sorry guys this time I have had so much fun just reading the comments without even reading past the headlines. No one in their right mind would take this energy from algae seriously. I recommend trying to live car free in your own “reel” time life. Soon it will not be your choice.
DC on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 7:28 pm
Algae bio-fools, snake-oil for the 21st century. Step right up folks…..
Northwest Resident on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 8:39 pm
I’ve got a better idea. How about a steam-powered generator that has a giant magnifying glass attached to a sun-sensitive “tracker device” that is capable of tracking the sun across the sky and keeping the magnifying glass dialed in to achieve maximum solar concentration. The magnifying glass beams the concentrated sunlight onto a “hot plate” that boils the water and keeps it boiling, producing steam and the electricity needed to power the “tracker”. Walla! Steam powered electricity. Of course, it won’t work during darkness or periods of no-sunlight, but at least when the sun is shining we can generate renewable energy to power the tv and recharge the iPads, among other things. Come on guys! We’re on the subject of never-gonna-be-practical ideas — I just thought I would toss mine in along with the rest.
bobinget on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 9:34 pm
It’s a fact folks. During all this crappy winter weather
algae will not grow outdoors. Believe me, it takes a lot of outdoor water to grow algae. Every barrel of oil
contains more potential energy then what algae can be produced on a water body the size of your favorite lake in a month. We BURN almost 20 Million of those barrels every day. That’s 19,500,000 per day, times seven.
Assuming we devote the entire GOM to algae growing.
How much energy will be needed for harvest and refining? What then do we burn the following week?
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sat, 8th Feb 2014 11:43 pm
Well guys, can we give algae bio fuels at least a chance as a niche fuel for somewhere there may be a comparative advantage. This niche fuel along with every last other one we can drum up. No effort should be rejected large or small if it can scale efficiently enough to do something somewhere. We know the challenge and that challenge is at time overwhelming in the transition away from fossil energy. When and if things collapse ultimately it will be a local affair because we live our lives locally. Locally we need to find our niche our comparative advantage for some of these “exotics”.
Kind a like when the Hun was at the border ready to invade you start gathering every able body man together and try to form an army. Tell me, in this situation, you do agree, every able bodied man would gather together to battle to protect the homeland? This would be done despite the fact they have little hope of resisting.
DC on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 12:29 am
Niche fuel for who guys? You and me? We wouldnt be able to afford it even if it ever became available. Even as a ‘niche’, algae bio-fools is a utter waste. At least with corn, another complete waste of energy, ‘we’ are already have the fields set up to grow and move corn. Algae would require a complet new expensive, infrastructure to be built on a scale most people cant imagine.
Go ‘niche’ the fuel is slow bloody expensive and comes in so slowly, farming with a yak and riding a bike everywhere will be far more productive than sitting around for the next shipment of bio-fools to arrive. In fact, an algae bio-fool distribution network would likely consume more energy just getting it to whatever end-users could ‘afford’ it.
No, even for a ‘niche’ algae is DOA.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 2:01 am
OOkay DC, we are going to have allot of derelict swimming pools soon with energy decent. Now that would be a good production platform. You know, you seen a pool that has been sitting for months unused. Just trying to be creative here DC!
Null Hypothesis on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 3:51 am
I think the only chance we have of producing hydrocarbons when FF’s run out is with artificial photosynthesis. I don’t know much about it, but it seems to me this is where the research budgets should be going (as well as solar panels), not biofools or cold fusion or what have you. It seems to have all the right ingredients — tons of CO2 in the atmosphere, and I’d bet it could be fairly easily concentrated using the same solar energy that powers the synthesis process. Tons of solar energy out there. If plants can do it why can’t we figure out how to do it without all the other maintenance issues that come with plants? If there’s just that one catalyst out there that can do it…
Just my thoughts, is there a reason why I’m crazy here?
rollin on Sun, 9th Feb 2014 3:53 am
I like the swimming pool idea. Just think a million new mosquito infested algae ponds.
PapaSmurf on Mon, 10th Feb 2014 4:44 am
Reading your comments is just so hilarious. You guys are all so deeply into the fetal position it is just amazing. Such narrow minded focus on the end of your world. The worship you guys have for oil is really amazing.
I just hit 14,000 miles on my Nissan Leaf. 15 months since I have visited a gas station.
Oh yeah, Tesla just finished a cross country corridor of Superchargers and ran a cannonball run race from LA to NY in 3 days.
You guys are living such a fatalistic fantasy. I was there with you back in 2004-2009 when there were no other options. But seriously, you guys need to wake up.