Hello I am thinking of puchasing algae from UTEX to put in a photobioreactor for biodiesel. Here are the types I am thinking of useing: Scenedesmus dimorphus, Chlorella vulgaris, and I thought I would try a species of Neochloris. If you didn't notice, all the species I have chosen are fresh water because I want to run my first trials with only freshwater algae. Yes I want to try three different species. I am trying to find which one produces the most oil with the longest hydrocarbons. To test the hydrocarbon length I thought I would just run each batch of fuel through the same engine, in the same quantity, at the same rpms, and measure how long the engine ran or how many revolutions the shaft made thus testing the explosive force put out by each fuel. I am not involved with any research groups or firms I am on my own, so I have limited funding and therefore limited equipment. I'm sure many of you understand that very well. But mainly I just want to double check what algae I should use. Also I would like to know if its easier to make my own growing medium or buy premade stuff.  Any input is greatly appreciated. Thank you. If anyone would like I might be able to put a diagram of my reactor on just so you could see it and maybe comment.

Planter,

Marc at Ecogenics sells several species.  He give larger, denser samples than UTEX for less money:

http://www.ecogenicsresearchcenter.org/prod02.htm

If Marc doesn't have the "food" you want,  there is a company in FL, something like Aquatec, that sell F2 - si and a lot of other stuff.

Making your own is very complicted - there are a dozen or so components and some you need a lot of and some just a little.

Thank you. I did know Marc was out there but I didn't know he was cheaper than UTEX. As for "food" I think I'll try both making my own and buying a standard type.

The Planter:

I am not involved with any research groups or firms I am on my own, so I have limited funding and therefore limited equipment. 

There are 3 separate issues here; one is the ssp of algae, another is the physical growing mechanism (the PBR)  and the 3rd is maintainance (food/O2/CO2...) of the project.

If you have never grown algae before, I would definately start there. Get a cheap fish tank and learn to breed your own algae. Nevermind what spp it is, just learn the habit algae so as to not spend $ on expensive algae that you dont know how to grow and will likely die without you ever knowing what you did to kill it. I would recommend the local lake or a very cheap starter algae like Chlorella if you feel you must buy one. This starter step will turn into a solution to problem 3 in a round about way because to be able to keep your fishtank a healthy green, you have to feed it and give it proper light, air exchange and temp... yadda yadda yadda. It is only after you can easily maintain a population that you understand, should you try to put it into a contraption that you invented. And you will now have all the starter solution that you need. You need to learn to walk before you invent a new type of rollercoaster, ya?

As to the reactor, there are so many factors that go into the physical makeup of a reactor that without an intimate knowledge of the organism that you plan on growing in the reactor, it is my opinion that there is no way to even design a reactor. Again, how can you really build a functioning rollercoaster without first understand who goes into the seat; how much will they pay, how tall are they, how many can you fit at one time, how fast can those in the seats go before you sheer off their arms, will they need an oxygen mask? ...

First learn about algae ---> then grow some algae so you get comphy with growing algae ---> then figure out a few specific alga you wanna work with ---> learn those growth habits including optimizing feeding of those spp you are working with ---> narrow it down to 1 spp for a specific project objective ---> get funding or help (likely both) to accomplish what your objectives are ---> design the PBR ---> build the PBR ---> optimize the PBR ---> Somehow figure out how to get IP around your product ---> license your product tp someone for a fortune and live in Tahiti on the beach.

hi planter,

We provide high lipid and food grade algae cultures all over the world. we also offer F2 nutrienmt go to our website for more info on the products list there is  a list of our algae cultures and  thier lipid content and price.

happy algae growing!!!

 Marc

Yes thank you Froggy. I thought you might say something like this. I appreciate your reality check as well. And yes I am working on growing some basic cultures from a pond first (in a fish tank :) ). In fact I am going to use those to test my photobioreactor (yes I'm going to sterilize it before putting in the bought algae). I have done only a little emphasis on "a little" research on algae. I plan on doing much more before I order any  "expensive algae".  As for a rollercoaster you 'er basically right. I am jumping into this a little too fast, but I wanted to get some advice before I got too far down the road. My "rollercoaster" has room for modification since I'm still in the diagramming stages and even when its finished it should still be easily adjustable for different passenger's requirements. Mabye designing a reactor that works really great is impossible, but I'm going to at least try and design one that works well enough. As for algae that adhere to the sides of the reactor that  is a different story. I'm not sure I could design a reactor that works even at the level of well enough for algae that adhere to the sides. I believe I could only compensate by increasing the surface area exposed to light and that would require a different layout. I think I'll post my results of my base experiment with the pond algae on when I feel comfortable with the results. Again your input is much welcomed.

Planter,

Carolina Biological has samples that are much cheaper ($6.95 is what I rememvber)  but they are so weak that they look like just water.

go to our website for pix of our algae culture lab there are also some pix in the media page on these forums. we have supplied thousands of algae cultures to researchers over the years and will soon be adding more algae strains which we offer in 50 ml tubes we have also filled custom orders for 10 and even 50 gallons of algae to interested parties including universities and government laboratories both  here and abroad. it is our intention to continually expand the culture lab and recently we have added two more rooms specifically laid out to cultivate even more algae cultures as well as some bacteria suitable for the production of alternative fuels such as butanol. the constant rain and oppresive heat this spring has made it difficult to complete certain other improvements needed so we can offer our training seminars. hopefully soon we will announce the dates for our next algae production seminar. we will announce the dates with plenty of time once we have attained our maintainance and improvement goals.

 also i notice that in todays news posting on B.D.N. mention was made about the  scientists declaration for biodiesel....

 I was pleased to be one of the signers of this  important and hopefully effective document

. I think that it would be a terrific idea if all the BDN members would also produce a similar document and present it to all representatives of our government..

  if people from all walks of life would take actions such as these perhaps, just maybe, we could make some of our legislators and other movers and shakers to get off thier duffs and DO SOMETHING to make biofuels part of the evryday economy in the shortest p[ossible time frame.

marc