Backtracking...

Posted by Stella Kin

I wish I found this three weeks ago. It gives all the recommended manufacturing specifications from start to finish for Chlorella vulgaris. Useful as a backup anyway:

Microalgae as feedstock for biodiesel production: Carbon dioxide sequestration, lipid production and biofuel quality

Algae to consider

Posted by Stella Kin

NSF Grant to NC State U. for Algae Biofuel from Dunaliella

Finally a bit of a breakthrough, given how secretive all the universities and companies are being with their algae-oil research. I think we could consider this as our algae of choice. It's potentially oil-secreting, North Carolina State University are currently studying it, it's a well researched strain, used to find ways in which to improve biomass and oil production, and it's already being commercially used. I'll comb over the previous research to find other references to it. If we combine this with either one of the manufacturing processes already discussed or use the solar panel idea that Ramachandra proposes, I think we'll have something very interesting.

On the negative side, I don't think it's a diatom.

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Also

Microbes reprogrammed to ooze oil for renewable biofuel

In this case cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) but it doesn't say which.

MSU: Baking soda dramatically boosts oil production in algae

Posted by Stella Kin

This was only three weeks ago. Something to consider...

MSU: Baking soda dramatically boosts oil production in algae

Start-up says it's turning algae into gasoline

Posted by Stella Kin

Sapphire energy says they're already doing it:

Start-up says it's turning algae into gasoline

Companies Exploring GM Algae Production

 Posted by Rachel

D. Glass Associates Inc. is a biotechnology consulting company. The CEO wrote a blog to follow up information obtained at the EUEC 2010 conference (2nd February 2010) and to complement a presentation that he gave.  This blog gives a comprehensive list of companies that are looking into genetically modifying algae (and how) in order to obtain greater oil yield.  The blog, and therefore the list of companies, can be found at:

http://dglassassociates.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/companies-reported-to-be-developing-genetically-modified-algae-for-biofuels/

The presentation that Dr. Glass gave at the EUEC 2010 conference was entitled "Prospects for the use of Genetic Engineering in Biofuel Production" and the slides from the presentation can be accessed here: http://www.slideshare.net/djglass99/david-glass-euec-presentation-02-02-10

The information given in this presentation and in the blog is useful for determining which companies are at a commercial stage in their GM-Algae production (not that many!) and seeing where current research into this is currently at. There is also an interesting slide in the presentation which details business deals involving biofuels.  Relevant ones are:

• Chevron/Solazyme: biodiesel production from algae
• ExxonMobil/Synthetic Genomics: synthetic algal strains for biofuel production
• Royal Dutch Shell/HR Petroleum: marine algae for biofuel

It may be too late in the project to start researching these deals from scratch but at least we have evidence of large multinational comapnies investing huge amounts of money into what we are trying to achieve. Therefore implying that our pitch is not a waste of time/money.

Notes on diatoms

Posted by Stella Kin

• Diatoms are a kind of unicellular algae belonging to the algal class Bacillariophyceae.
• Diatoms are responsible for about one-fifth of the photosynthesis carried out on earth, and, like other
  primary producers, sequester carbon.They are estimated to fix at least 25-30% of the global carbon dioxide. 
• Under culture conditions, algal populations can double in size in a few hours, and are more effective absorbers of carbon than higher plants.
• Theoretical calculations based on the photosynthetic ability and growth potential of diatoms have
  shown that diatoms can yield more than 30,000 litres (or 200 barrels) of oil per hectare per annum. 
• Traditionally used crops for the production of biofuels such as oilseeds have an oil content of lesser than 5% of their total mass. Diatoms can yield 100–200 times as much oil as soybean, 10–200 times more than oil seeds and 7–31 times more than oil palm, which is considered as the next best source of oil1.
• Scientists have also found out that diatoms produce more oil (double or even triple the amount produced normally) under photo-oxidative stress or nutrient starvation such as lower nitrogen or silica content in the growth media. This is due to the shift in lipid metabolism from membrane lipid synthesis to the storage of neutral lipids
• the ‘pure’ diatom oil contains an estimated 60–70% saturates. The diatom oils are likely to be rich in fatty acids, which during early diagenesis, reportedly transform into condensed lipids1’.
• Ramachandra and his group have worked out a concept which ‘cuts down’ the time required to produce oil from diatoms from ‘millions of years to daily’. 
• They have suggested a way in which diatoms can be made to work like mammalian glands, so that one can ‘milk’ oil from them continuously for long periods of time. The diatoms will be designed such that they secrete the oil that they produce rather than store it, so that they need not be destroyed to obtain oil, and a continuous supply of oil is ensured. 
• ‘Milking’ diatoms would serve to do away with the cumbersome process of extraction of oil
  from them.
• The team has also proposed the design of a solar panel based on the structure of an angiosperm leaf – the epidermis, the outermost layer of the leaf, would be the solar panel; the inner tissues of the leaf, such as the palisade and spongy tissues that are responsible for much of the carbon fixation and photosynthesis, will be the photosynthetic diatoms

• Conditions for optimum production of oil will be provided. 
• Additionally, they have also suggested genetic manipulation of diatoms so that they produce gasoline directly instead of ‘crude oil’ from which gasoline must then be obtained. 
• In other words, they have envisioned a ‘solar panel that converts photons to gasoline rather than electricity or heat’1.

• The first step is to culture various diatoms and identify species that have higher oil content, and those that have a faster growth in low cost growth media. Also required are diatoms that would be thermophilic (they must be able to survive high temperature conditions of the solar panel), able to survive in the hydrocarbon mixture that they would exocytose, and have a highly efficient photosynthetic capacity. 
• The second step is the design of the solar panel and genetic modification of the diatoms to get a system that would give a continuous supply of oil. Ramachandra et al. have also suggested the engineering of an angiosperm leaf with a symbiotic association with diatoms – the diatoms can replace the photosynthetic mesophyll tissue of the leaf while the leaf helps in gaseous exchange and also provides a humid environment for the growth of diatoms. 
• Another step is the genetic engineering of diatoms to make them produce gasoline directly so that the secretion can be used without further processing and modification. 

These various ‘steps’ may take a number of years, or may even happen simultaneously through collaboration.

Reference
Milking diatoms – a new route to sustainable energy

The links in the article don't lead anywhere, here are the results of a search done within Newcastle's website:
‘UK dream team’ to develop algae biofuel

Minutes for meeting 6

Friday 26 November

Present: Stella Kin, Louise Anton, Bryan McCulloch, Rachel Nichol

Next meeting: Monday 29 November, 12pm Butchart

1. Discussion of research

Discussion of whether to improve manufacturing processes to increase biomass yield (flashing LEDs, nitrogen supply, etc) or oil yield (extraction process, electromagnetic ultrasound wave), or to invest money into genetic engineering (using oil-secreting diatoms). It was felt that cutting and pasting a number of improvements together would make it quite difficult to sell at the presentation, because of the variety of algae types that have been used, and this would also make procjecting yields very difficult. The best options are to either research into one area of improvement for one type of algae, or to research a particular algae that can be genetically engineered to improve yield. The consensus in the meeting was to opt for the latter and that further reading should be done into oil secreting diatoms. 

Oliver suggested looking into government subsidies but Bryan has found none as of yet. 

2. Discussion of presentation

Each team member will present their own section of research. The research should be distilled into a few sentences, bullet points and images that can be included in the slides. Recommended no more than 2 slides and 2 minutes per person.

3 Any other business

Team will meet on Monday at Butchart to compare research into diatoms and GM, and start to put slides together.

Actions

1. All team members to research on oil secreting diatoms and post links and paper on the blog

2. All to prepare their research so far to put into slides