A Greener Crude: Is This Algae’s Opportunity to Shine?
Leo Huang ‘27
As breakthroughs in sustainable energy continue to challenge how we get our power, one unlikely candidate has become a formidable contender: algae. As the world’s fastest-growing plant, algae has already been integrated into our daily lives. With petroleum being a limited resource, recent research into commercializing algae derivatives has garnered immense support from scientists and startups alike.
Much of this excitement stems from algae’s attractive yield and ease of growth. Because of its ability to be farmed on non-arable land with saltwater, algae farms can utilize existing dead space not used by commercial farmers. Algae’s high yield rate also contributes to its high removal of CO2.
The attractiveness of algae also stems from its variety of uses. In addition to fuel, algae also have proven to be a green material source. With startups such as Algenesis creating even algae-based shoes, the potential for algae seems limitless.
While thoughts of an algae future are big, we are still a long way away from commercializing it in terms of fuel.
One of the biggest challenges working with algae is how quickly it adapts to its surrounding environment. Not all algae are built equal; some strands are better than others in fuel production. With certain strands doubling their biomass in as little as six hours, algae genes can quickly evolve and are difficult to preserve. To solve this problem, scientist Eric Knoshaug has introduced liquid nitrogen to freeze certain strands for preservation as well as utilized gene editing to optimize strands for fuel extraction.
In addition to its genetic difficulties, expensive equipment has also increased the cost of production for algae biofuel. In order to convert algae into a product that can compete with petroleum, the cost of production would have to decrease significantly.
Thankfully, many companies have already found alternative methods to produce algae biofuel on a smaller and less expensive scale. However, as it stands, the nearly $300-$2400 per barrel of algae fuel is not commercially competitive to today’s $75 per barrel of petroleum.
With scientists in India claiming that this “might be the most promising, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective means of reducing CO2 emissions in the energy sector”, algae will inevitably prove to be a big player in our future lives.
Sources:
https://www.nrel.gov/bioenergy/algal-biofuels.html
https://archive.bio.org/articles/biofuels-promise-algae
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3152439/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2863401/
https://www.pnnl.gov/news/release.aspx?id=1029
https://processengineering.co.uk/article/2021233/algae-power