DOE PROJECT STUDYING CO2 CAPTURE FROM ALGAE MOVES INTO PHASE II

Lindsay Kalter
GHG Monitor
08/31/12

A Department of Energy-funded project that aims to capture carbon dioxide using algae and maximize biofuel production has entered its second phase, according to project officials. Scientists from the Touchstone Research Laboratory in Triadelphia, W.Va., have developed four algae ponds at Cedar Lane Farms in Wooster, Ohio, and aim to study the effectiveness of a new ‘phase change material’ that could help boost algae production, which in turn will capture and convert CO2 into oxygen and biomass. Researchers will collect data over the next two years, the project’s principal investigator, Philip Lane, told GHG Monitor. “Our goal is to capture 60 percent of the CO2 coming in. That’s a number that we’re going to study and a goal that we’re going to try to hit,” Lane said. “We really just finished the construction of the facility in Wooster and just started operations.” The project is primarily funded by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.

The Touchstone project consists of four ponds, roughly 200 feet long and 30 feet wide. Two are outside, and two are located within a greenhouse, which allows researchers to collect data year-round, the researchers said. Lane said that phase two of the project will use the pond algae to capture CO2 from a small, industrial coal-fired source, which will then be fed directly into the ponds for approximately 14 months. The tests will help determine how Touchstone’s phase change material maintains temperature, minimizes water evaporation and protects against invasive species, three challenges that are common to algae biofuel production operations. Taken together, this could make biofuel production much more economical, Lane said. Once the algae ponds have matured, the biomass will be harvested and processed for their lipids and algal oil, which can be upgraded to renewable biofuel, NETL said. The Ohio State University will also help convert the residual algae biomass to methane, according to the lab.

Touchstone Hopes to Commercialize Phase Change Material

Project Manager Jason Hissam said that those involved in the project hope it will become an add-on technology that could be sold to existing ponds. Cedar Lane Farms is providing the emission source for phase two—two of its production plants that sit on 13 acres, one using a 2.8 megawatt coal-fired combustor. “We just started operating the plant and started collecting the data about a month ago, so there hasn’t been much data yet. But the thing we really noticed is they had to add a lot less water to the pond with the Phase Change Materials,” Hissam said. In phase one of the project, researchers conducted experiments on a small laboratory pond to demonstrate the material’s viability.

Lane said it is unclear at the moment what the project’s next phase will entail once the two-year data collection process has come to an end. “We’ve got some other proposals and we’re working on some other things, but I’m not to a point where I could reveal the next steps,” he said. “It’s a bit premature.”