Novel Liner for Algal Biofuel Production

A successful algal industry would be transformative in the US. The very high productivity of algae relative to land plants will drive massive job creation in rural areas, provide biofuel and biopolymers to reduce dependence on foreign sources of oil, reduce fertilizer run-off with its corresponding water quality impairment, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and enable use of currently underutilized land and saline water resources for food and fuel production. Overall, the forty-fold increase in agricultural productivity will result in an economic boon for the US and a sustainable way to meet the world’s growing protein and energy needs. One of the most important remaining barriers to commercial algae biofuels facilities is the high capital cost of algae biomass production facilities. The dominant contributor to the capital cost in an algae biomass production facility is the plastic liner, which is more than 35% or more of the total capital cost. The goal of this project is to develop a plastic liner with an installed cost that is one-tenth of currently available liners, and thus to avoid the need to develop a design without plastic liners. This would reduce the capital cost of open-raceway algae facilities by a third while maintaining the advantages of a plastic-lined raceway which would considerably accelerate the development of a commercial algal biofuel industry in the US. All of the current projects within the DOE algae feedstock program utilize plastic liners or equivalent barriers, yet the state-of-technology cost estimates rely on the ability to utilize unlined ponds. Most of the research would need to be redone to become compatible with unlined ponds, and many approaches would likely fail. The development of a low-cost liner would achieve the DOE program’s economic objectives while still enable use of all of the research conducted to-date.By facilitating a commercial algal biofuel and commercial algal protein industry this project will directly benefit rural communities by creating many high-quality jobs in rural areas through the higher productivity per area and per amount of water used, and through the use of currently underutilized land and water resources. The entire US public will benefit from the economic boon created by much high productivity from land and water resources. The public will also benefit from the environmental benefits of reducing agricultural chemical run-off, reducing water requirements for food and biofuel production, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing pressure to convert forests or other valuable land resources to food and fuel production.