Really Going Green

You might not recognize these super heroes of tomorrow. Found in unlikely places like this bio-diesel lab at the University of New Hampshire. They forsake traditional mask and cape; they might be disguised by a lab coat and safety goggles or simply a passion to save planet earth. But these superheroes are working to rehabilitate scum and slime. Not the human variety, but algae! Converting that green goo into energy for the future! Chemical Engineering student, Danah Hashem says, "I feel this is extremely important. The political ramifications, the financial ramifications, the environmental ramifications are huge in reducing our usage, our dependency on oil as an energy source."

One way to reduce that dependency is with bio fuels made from renewable plant material, like corn whose sugars are distilled into ethanol. Or soy, whose oils are made into bio-diesel. Danah adds, "This is just one of the many ways that I think we can slowly begin to branch out and utilize our environment more, and utilize the resources that the earth provides for us."

Going green has gone really green, as in this single celled scum of a plant. Good old algae, filled with oil, called "lipids"; meaning it is also filled with huge potential. Chemical Engineering student, Thaddaeus Webster, says, "If we can find an algae strain that grows fast enough, or has enough lipids, we could potentially replace the petro-diesel industry and use bio-diesel instead."

Proponents say that farming algae for fuel takes on a whole new meaning if you just crunch a few of the numbers. If you're using soybeans to make biodiesel, you'll get about 50-60 gallons of fuel per acre per year. Americans already use about 60 billion gallons of diesel a year and it would take about all the farm land we've got to meet production. Dr. Ihab Farag says, "If your looking at something like algae which production is estimated to be about 10,000 -15,000 gallons of bio diesel per acre; you're looking at something a little bit bigger then New Mexico, or about 2/3rds the size of Texas that can produce enough bio diesel for the whole country."

Farming a high yielding bio fuel like algae could help ease competition between fuel and food for land and water. And there is a lot of potential, however there are a few set backs. Dr. Lee Jahnke says, "We are looking at various species of micro-algae all of which produce some lipid materiel. Dr. Lee Jahnke works to identify the best species and conditions for maximum production. He adds, "We want rapid growth and a high percentage of lipid material. Algae, under the right growing conditions, will produce over half of their dry weight as lipid. That's a goal to shoot for, but it isn't practical yet." Meaning these students have lots of research ahead of them, like finding the most environmentally friendly method of farming algae. Thaddaeus says, "We're using salt water because we want to try and save potable water."

You might be surprised at another water source that's being looked at here; wastewater: Chemical Engineering student, Paul Kyriacopoulos, says, "Wastewater is something that nobody really wants and if we can help purify this wastewater and produce biodiesel from it, than that is two positive steps."

Once grown, it's time to harvest the algae. Another research project-it's chemically separated, then separated by centrifuge to isolate the oil. Dr. Ihab Farag explains, "What's left over is this paste of algae. It's still not dry enough for our needs, so we freeze dry it after a good period of time we end up with our final dry algae product which looks like this. This is dry algae and this is the one that has the oil in it."

The dried algae is processed to extract the oil and finally the algae oil is converted into biodiesel, but efficient conversion is another challenge. Danah adds, "Currently bio-diesel is a semi-viable energy source that's being used minimally but right now automated bio diesel processors are an extremely uncommon thing. So we're working on different methods that can possibly make that process more viable."

Increasing what's been, so far, an only a tiny yield has been one of the challenges, but not the only one. Thaddaeus says, "There have been many failures. This bag for example; we use a certain type of glue to seal the holes, but as you can see right now, it's leaking. And that's one of the many challenges we've faced." Paul adds, "Well it shows us what doesn't work and when we find out what doesn't work we'll be able to find what does! Many invest in research; looking for a resource that yields energy and profits. Dr. Ihab Farag says, "You see so many things coming on the internet, on the news about starting plants producing bio-diesel from algae, but I still think there are a lot of challenges."

But the best and brightest among us are our greatest resource; truly a "super power" dedicating their time and their energy to finding a brighter future for all of us. Danah says, "The world that were going to be living in a couple years is going to be the world based on the resources we are consuming and the affects that we are having on the environment and I want to make sure that I'm doing everything I can to make that world a sustainable, livable healthy environment."

Hard Working Plants!
You could call algae an "environmental early warning system" since the tiny plants are sensitive to changing conditions and respond quickly in aquatic ecosystems. In addition to algae's fuel potential, more than 150 species are commercially important food sources. Algae have been used as thickening agents in ice cream and shampoo, and some varieties are used in the production of medicines.