Any Dieselheads/BioDiesel nutz out there in FSP-land?

[Lloyd Danforth]

As I explained to Russell in an email Glycerin is a bi-product of making bio-diesel.  In its pure form it is the base for most liquid and some solid soaps.  Due to the increase in the manufacture of bio, glycerin is a glut on the market.  Clycerin derived from fryer oil bio-diesel if filthy and, particularly undesireable.  I think if you have enough there is a way to get energy out of it in a bio-gas generator thingy.  If you use the right kind of lye in when making the bio, and distill the menthane out of the glycerin, you, can, supposedly, compost it.

[Kat Kanning]

I use it to make giant bubbles.

[Lloyd Danforth]

06/19/2007

Biotech breakthrough could end biodiesel's glycerin glut
Rice engineers find way to make ethanol, valuable chemicals from 
waste glycerin

BY JADE BOYD
Rice News staff

With U.S. biodiesel production at an all-time high and a record 
number of new biodiesel plants under construction, the industry is 
facing an impending crisis over waste glycerin, the major byproduct 
of biodiesel production. New findings from Rice University suggest a 
possible answer in the form of a bacterium that ferments glycerin and 
produces ethanol, another popular biofuel.


Ramon Gonzalez, the William Akers Assistant Professor in Chemical and 
Biomolecular Engineering, and Syed Shams Yazdani, postdoctoral 
research associate, have identified the metabolic processes and 
conditions that allow a known strain of E. coli to convert glycerin 
into ethanol.
"We identified the metabolic processes and conditions that allow a 
known strain of E. coli to convert glycerin into ethanol," said Ramon 
Gonzalez, the William Akers Assistant Professor in Chemical and 
Biomolecular Engineering. "It's also very efficient. We estimate the 
operational costs to be about 40 percent less that those of producing 
ethanol from corn."

Gonzalez said the biodiesel industry's rapid growth has created a 
glycerin glut. The glut has forced glycerin producers like Dow 
Chemical and Procter and Gamble to shutter plants, and Gonzalez said 
some biodiesel producers are already unable to sell glycerin and 
instead must pay to dispose of it.

"One pound of glycerin is produced for every 10 pounds of biodiesel," 
Gonzalez said. "The biodiesel business has tight margins, and until 
recently, glycerin was a valuable commodity, one that producers 
counted on selling to ensure profitability."

Researchers across the globe are racing to find ways to turn waste 
glycerin into profit. While some are looking at traditional chemical 
processing -- finding a way to catalyze reactions that break glycerin 
into other chemicals -- others, including Gonzalez, are focused on 
biological conversion.

In biological conversion, researchers engineer a microorganism that 
can eat a specific chemical feedstock and excrete something useful. 
Many drugs are made this way, and the chemical processing industry is 
increasingly finding bioprocessing to be a "greener," and sometimes 
cheaper, alternative to chemical processing.

In a review article in the June issue of Current Opinion in 
Biotechnology, Gonzalez points out that very few microorganisms are 
capable of digesting glycerin in an oxygen-free environment. This 
oxygen-free process -- known as anaerobic fermentation -- is the most 
economical and widely used process for biological conversion.

"We are confident that our findings will enable the use of E. coli to 
anaerobically produce ethanol and other products from glycerin with 
higher yields and lower cost than can be obtained using common sugar-
based feedstocks like glucose and xylose," Gonzalez said.

The report in Current Opinion in Biotechnology was co-authored by 
postdoctoral research associate Syed Shams Yazdani. Graduate students 
Yandi Dharmadi and Abhishek Murarka assisted with the research. 
Gonzalez's research is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
and the National Science Foundation.

[Kat Kanning]

Algae Emerges as a Potential Fuel Source
Thomas Whisenand/Associated Press

Roger Ruan of the University of Minnesota says algae is a far more efficient fuel crop than corn.
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 2, 2007

ST. PAUL, Dec. 1 (AP) — The 16 big flasks of bubbling bright green liquids in Roger Ruan's laboratory at the University of Minnesota are part of a new boom in renewable energy research.

Driven by renewed investment as oil prices push $100 a barrel, Dr. Ruan and scores of scientists around the world are racing to turn algae into a commercially viable energy source.

Some algae is as much as 50 percent oil that can be converted into biodiesel or jet fuel. The biggest challenge is cutting the cost of production, which by one Defense Department estimate is running more than $20 a gallon.

"If you can get algae oils down below $2 a gallon, then you'll be where you need to be," said Jennifer Holmgren, director of the renewable fuels unit of UOP, an energy subsidiary of Honeywell International. "And there's a lot of people who think you can."

Researchers are trying to figure out how to grow enough of the right strains of algae and how to extract the oil most efficiently. Over the past two years they have received more money from governments, the Pentagon, big oil companies, utilities and venture capital firms.

The federal government halted its main algae research program nearly a decade ago, but technology has advanced and oil prices have climbed since then, and an Energy Department laboratory announced in late October that it was partnering with Chevron, the second-largest American oil company, in the hunt for better strains of algae.

"It's not backyard inventors at this point at all," said George Douglas, a spokesman for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, an arm of the Energy Department. "It's folks with experience to move it forward."

A New Zealand company demonstrated a Range Rover powered by an algae biodiesel blend last year, but experts say algae will not be commercially viable for many years. Dr. Ruan said demonstration plants could be built within a few years.

Converting algae oil into biodiesel uses the same process that turns vegetable oils into biodiesel. But the cost of producing algae oil is hard to pin down because nobody is running the process start to finish other than in a laboratory, Mr. Douglas said.

If the price of production can be reduced, the advantages of algae include the fact that it grows much faster and in less space than conventional energy crops. An acre of corn can produce about 20 gallons of oil per year, Dr. Ruan said, compared with a possible 15,000 gallons of oil per acre of algae.

An algae farm could be located almost anywhere. It would not require converting cropland from food production to energy production. It could use sea water and could consume pollutants from sewage and power plants.

The Pentagon's research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is financing research into producing jet fuel from plants, including algae. The agency is already working with the Honeywell subsidiary, General Electric and the University of North Dakota. In November, it requested additional research proposals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/us/02algae.html?_r=3&ref=science&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[Lloyd Danforth]

The Univ of NH has a Algae Biodeisel program

[Recumbent ReCycler]

The Univ of NH has a Algae Biodeisel program

If anyone wants a tour of the lab and would like to see the processor, I'm sure I could arrange something.  Unfortunately the processor isn't running now because some bureaucrats decided it was a fire hazard and demanded that we have a licensed electrician wire it up according to code before we can continue processing.  We don't have much money, so we can't just call someone and pay them to rewire it.  The processor is mostly self funded.  If anyone knows a licensed electrician who would be willing to work for really cheap, please let me know.

[KBCraig]

The Univ of NH has a Algae Biodeisel program

If anyone wants a tour of the lab and would like to see the processor, I'm sure I could arrange something.

Bumping this old thread back to life...

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/09/algal-jet-fuel.html

Algal Jet Fuel One Big Step Closer to Reality
By Dave Demerjian September 15, 2008 | 10:00:00 AM

Commercial airlines won't stop using petroleum anytime soon, but a California startup says it has produced the world's first microbial-derived jet fuel, and independent tests show it behaves just like the stuff refined from oil.

Solazyme says analysis of its algal jet fuel by the Southwest Testing Institute showed it didn't freeze at high altitude -- a common problem with biofuels -- and it had the same density, stability and flashpoint of conventional jet fuel. In all, the algal fuel met 11 of the most challenging standards, known as D1655, for aviation fuels set by the ASTM. That's a significant step toward commercial viability of an alternative fuel that can meet the rigorous demands of the aviation industry.

"The Solazyme algae-based aviation kerosene has passed the biggest hurdles needed to successfully develop a commercial and military jet fuel fully consistent with existing engines and infrastructure," the company says.

That doesn't mean your next flight will be aboard a plane fueled by pond scum.

Several companies are experimenting with bio-jet fuels derived from soybeans and other feed stocks, but Solazyme makes fuel by growing algae in fermentation tanks without sunlight, satisfying the eukaryotic organism's sweet tooth by feeding it a steady diet of sugar. The process has already led to algal fuel for cars, called Soladiesel, that works like conventional diesel fuel. Solazyme hopes to begin mass-producing it at a competitive price within three years. That could be optimistic, but Chevron is sufficiently impressed to join Solazyme in the endeavor.

Solazyme isn't alone in pursuing algal jet fuel. Seattle-based Inventure Chemical is building a test plant and Texas-based PetroSun has dedicated part of its 1,100-saltwater-pond network to developing an algae-derived aviation fuel. Airlines and aircraft manufacturers, anxiously watching petroleum prices wreak havoc on their finances, are eager to give these new alternatives a try. Virgin Atlantic ran a biofuel test flight in February, while KLM, Continental, JetBlue, and Air New Zealand have announced plans to work with Boeing or Airbus on trials of their own. Darpa and the Air Force also are keenly interested in finding alternatives to kerosene.

The news from Solazyme is good, but don't plan to buckle yourself into an algae-powered jet anytime soon. While the innovation is there, the ability to scale up isn't. Company CEO Jonathan Wolfson says the company could produce millions of gallons of algal kerosene if it had the equipment, but the "capital involved in owning that equipment is massive." And then there's the fact algal kerosene still costs more than the stuff refined from petroleum.

[bouncer]

There is a Veggie oil processor in Seabrook. within walking distance of Max's place. I did a one day working trial. they are small company just starting out.

[William]

The Univ of NH has a Algae Biodeisel program

If anyone wants a tour of the lab and would like to see the processor, I'm sure I could arrange something.  Unfortunately the processor isn't running now because some bureaucrats decided it was a fire hazard and demanded that we have a licensed electrician wire it up according to code before we can continue processing.  We don't have much money, so we can't just call someone and pay them to rewire it.  The processor is mostly self funded.  If anyone knows a licensed electrician who would be willing to work for really cheap, please let me know.

Are they back up and running?

Is the offer for a tour still available?