Open-Raceway Algal Production Operations Dave Hazlebeck September 2014 The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.
Global Algae Innovations Founded in December 2013 to produce algae for Protein, Biofuel, and High Value Products
Global Algae Innovations Focused on Low-Cost Production Technology Suite of advances throughout the process Economical process for biofuels iis within reach Novel, inexpensive photobioreactor Operating 33-acre algae facility in Kauai Scalable system design with integrated harvesting, dewatering, and drying CO 2 supplied from off-gas of adjacent power plant Large-scale open system operated with negligible contamination Partnerships for application to high value products Strain development Established distribution channels Specialized unit operations Teaming on Government R&D Projects Teams include universities, government laboratories, technology providers, testing facility owners, and product end users
33-Acre Kauai Algae Facility
Largest Raceway is 3.2 Acres
Kauai Algae Facility History Constructed in 2011 and operated until March 2012 - Scalable raceway design, high algal concentration and high productivity - Large-scale open system with negligible contamination - Round the clock carbon dioxide supply from power plant effluent with low pressure drop on the gas - Mechanical dewatering to over 30% solids and full media recycle Idle from March 2012 to March 2014 March 2014 to Present - Repairs and retrofits completed - Fully operational with improved capabilities
Permanent Connection to Power Plant Stack for CO 2 Supply All CO 2 for growth from adjacent power plant stack 24 hour per day CO 2 recovery Power plant off-gas returned to stack after CO 2 recovery
Raceway System is Fully Operational Raceway System Repair and Retrofits Small raceways started in March Larger raceways started in June after power plant connection Improved data acquisition and control system Cultivated a number of strains - chlorella - scenedesmus - Diatoms - Cyanobacteria
New Harvesting, Dewatering and Drying System Fully Operational
Fully Integrated Harvesting, Dewatering and Drying Dewater to ~30% solids Dry to 94% solids Fully integrated operation from harvest through dry material
Membrane Permeability Independent of Algae Concentration 400 Membrane Permeability, LMH/TMP 300 200 100 Test Condi ons: 6000 liters processed Algae collec on efficiency ~99.4% 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Retentate Algae (g/l)
Full Media Recycle
Starting 12 Month Continuous Operational Test This Fall Cultivation C, N, P balance Productivity Weather Microscopy Flow cytometer Oil and protein content Unit Operations Yield Product quality Energy use Efficacy
Opportunities for Collaboration During the Operational Test Collect samples for additional data on fully characterized system, e.g. qpcr, transcriptomics, FlowCam, areal spectrophotometry Slip streams and area for piloting of new harvesting, dewatering, or drying technologies Algae biomass for extraction testing Excess algae meal for feed, polymer, or other product trials
Current Collaborators TSD Management Associates
ACKNOWLEGEMENT Global Algae Innovations wishes to acknowledge support from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as well as technical/contract support from Army Research Office (ARO).