GROWTH SYSTEM FOR MICRO-ALGAE FOR BIOFUELS. GRC IS EMBARKING ON BIOFUEL STUDIES AS POTENTIAL REPLACEMENT FO…

Public award description

GROWTH SYSTEM FOR MICRO-ALGAE FOR BIOFUELS. GRC IS EMBARKING ON BIOFUEL STUDIES AS POTENTIAL REPLACEMENT FOR AVIATION FUELS. AS A PART OF THESE STUDIES, WE ARE DEVELOPING A HIERARCHICAL SET OF SMALL SCALE EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS TO ALLOW PROCESS SIMULATION AND ULTIMATELY OPTIMIZATION OF A KEY BIOFUEL PROCESS - MICROALGAE GROWTH IN OPEN RACETRACK PONDS. THE MODELS RELY ON FUNDAMENTAL BIOLOGY DESCRIPTION FOR A SINGLE MICROALGAE ON THE MICROSCOPIC SCALE, AND ON COMPLETE COMPUTATIONAL TRANSPORT MODELING OF THE ENTIRE SYSTEM ON THE MACROSCOPIC LEVEL. WE ARE SEEKING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS FOR INTERROGATION OF MICRO-ALGAE GROWN IN SMALL SYSTEMS, TO ENABLE DETERMINATION OF THEIR KEY BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL GROWTH PARAMETERS. THE APPARATUS SHOULD BE ABLE THE MEASUREMENTS AND OBSERVATION OF SMALL POPULATIONS OF MICRO-ALGAE, AS FUNCTIONS OF KEY GROWTH PARAMETERS, INCLUDING LIGHT, NUTRIENTS AND CERTAIN DISSOLVED GASES SUCH AS CO2. DR. BEN-AMOTZ WILL PROVIDE US WITH A FINAL REPORT, AS WELL AS BE AVAILABLE FOR TECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS ON THE WORK THROUGHOUT THE DURATION OF THE PROJECT. THE WORK IS ANTICIPATED TO BE PERFORMED AT THE CONTRACTOR'S SITE. I ANTICIPATE THE CONTRACT DURATION TO BE TWELVE (12) MONTHS.