Abstract

Issue: A top priority for our national economy and security is our supply of oil. US dependence on foreign oil puts us at risk since much imported oil comes from nations with interests incongruent with ours or subject to geopolitical instability. There is also growing concern over carbon emissions from oil use. A carbon neutral domestic source of fuel would have tremendous economic, environmental and geopolitical value to the nation.

A potential solution: Biodiesel is a non-petroleum based alternative to diesel fuel derived from plant oils and animal fats. A common US feedstock is soybean oil. Other nations use palm oil or rapeseed oil. Unfortunately, these feedstocks cannot be produced in sufficient quantities to significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Producing oil from these feedstocks, which are also extensively used as food, also adversely impacts food prices with associated burdens on the less advantaged. However, biodiesel can be produced from microalgae with the following benefits:

A significant portion of the US transportation fuel needs can be produced from microalgae using only 10% of the area of land currently used for agriculture. Algae is one the most efficient organisms on Earth in terms of converting sunlight into biomass, with an energy efficiency approaching 5 percent compared to less than one from fast-growing crops like sugarcane. Microalgae can produce 8,000 gallons of biodiesel per acre per year instead of the 50 gallons per acre per year typical of terrestrial plants such as soybeans.

Growth of algae consumes CO₂. Biodiesel based on algae is, therefore, carbon neutral. Algae grow well in areas unsuited for conventional agriculture such as deserts with brackish water.

Today’s efforts: Recent innovations, by General Atomics (GA) and our academic team member – Texas A&M University and the Texas Agriculture Experiment Station (TAES) in Pecos, Texas in microalgae biodiesel production should make it cost competitive with petroleum oil at $50 per barrel. The Department of Defense is currently sponsoring our team’s program to commercially derive biodiesel from algae feedstocks.

Using one of the four known algae production processes- open pond cultivation, the GA Team has initiated a three phase research and development program to demonstrate the near term commercial viability of bio-oils for large scale production of transportation fuels. In the past three years, Congress has appropriated approximately $6M and the State of Texas has provided $4M for work on the first phase of this program that will focus on engineering tests of new algae production equipment and optimal algae growth and oil production techniques. Larger scale engineering tests and final design of the prototype facility will be completed in Phase II. Phase III will include construction and operation of a prototype facility. Total cost (all phases) of such a program is estimated to be $50M over three years.

Next steps: Additional funding is being secured to initiate Phases II & III (prototype and demonstration facility development) to validate the near term commercial viability of bio-oils for large scale production of transportation fuels.

In a parallel funded effort, The Department of Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) in December 2008 awarded the General Atomics Team and many of our Texas team members a $20M Phase 1 award to develop affordable algal oil at $2 per gallon for conversion into military (JP-8) aviation fuel by June 2010. If the GA/ Texas A&M team succeeds in Phase 1, DARPA will issue a follow-on contract for production target price (algal oil) of $1 per gallon for conversion to JP-8. Texas A&M and the TAES facility in Pecos, Texas are significant team members on this effort. A portion of these DARPA funds will be used to further research and practical applications in the State of Texas at various locations to include the Pecos TAES facility.

The states of Texas, California, Mississippi, and New Mexico all have areas with suitable climate, land availability, brackish water and CO2 pipeline proximity and we are actively pursuing programs in these states.