Hello,

I am currently writing a master thesis proposal for a 2 year long experimental research project culturing algae in municipal wastewater for the production of biofuel. 

I am working as a lab technician at a wastewater treatment plant and have an extensive collection of analytical instrumentation including nutrient analyzer able to monitor nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, ammonia, TP and TKN, a spectrophotometer, pH/Cond/DO meter, 1000X Olympus phase contrast microscope, etc, etc...

While conducting literature reviews, writing and editing, I have been trying to determine what exactly new and cutting edge alage research is.

There are alot of companies out there working on algae to biofuel, how do I carry on and not duplicate something already investigated and does it really matter?  What type of algae is the most promising, and how do I obtain it, should I stick with local species?  Is there a better way to build a bioreactor that "selects" for certain types of algae?  Are pure cultures better then mixed or complex cultures?..... 

I would really appriciate some input as to where to go with this project, I have lots of time to invest and the tools as well.

What would you do if you had a masters student conducting algae research?

AT

 Hi Alex:

I am not sure whether you indeed are trying to come up with something new related to biofuel production or whether you might be open to examining other uses of algae. Let me explain myself. There are a lot of companies currently examining production of biofuels from algae, whether grown in open fields, brackish water or in carefully controlled bioreactors with either direct exposure to sun, or concentrating sunlight across banks of transparent tubes and piping, or by using sugars as a way of providing energy to the growing plants.  CO2 is sourced in several ways - straight from ambient air or concentrated in off-gases from boilers or power generators. Some of the companies are reputable with resources and super professional staff. others are scams with none of these, trying simply to hype themselves to a gullible public. But I am digressing. What I have not seen is the much consideration of using algae oils to make oleochemicals, replacing palms and other natural oils. For now that is an after thought if thought of at all. I wonder if that might be a theme for your MSc thesis. 

 Please contact me if you have further questions. I am a Chemical Engineer with BSc and MSc from decades back and have been very much involved as senior executive, responsible for corporate development in several multinational chemical companies.

Cheers

Alex 

Alex,

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of algae. You have a distinc advantage over the majority of posters on this forum. Most of us are amatuers hoping to find the best way of commercial production of algae for oil.

Algae has been growing since old man time was a sparkle in his dad's eye. It has been grown as a food since the Astecs and for extraction of fine chemicals for decades. But when we try to grow it for other uses it seems to fall apart.

A major part of what you are planning to do is going to involve research and the www has everything you need to find and read. Use  the search engine on here, google, yahoo, wikipedia and several others and search for algae, biodiesel, biofuels. Read the NREL close out report ( link in Wikipedia)

After you have done a good deal of reading you will come to an understanding of how the various species have differing parameters that control their lipid production. We need to find the best species that produces the best quality and quantity of oil. That is, a variety that is easy to manipulate, doubles itself more than once in 24 hours and has a high lipid content.

Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Hello Alex,

Thank you for the reply.  It is nice to talk to someone that has been in the industry for a while, I am still learning the ins and outs of algae production and the politics.... 

Interesting thought to use the algae oil for something other than biodiesel, I did not think of that.  When you say oleochemicals, do you mean products for human consumption?  I am wondering if that could work since I am using municipal wastewater as my nutrient and water source...

It is in my nature to try to come up with something new but being new to the field it is difficult to have novel ideas so early on.  It would however be an advantage to our municipality to simply obtain carbon credits by reducing our CO2 output, if that could be accounted for by our sustainability office, but again this is not a "new" idea. 

I am somewhat limited in the "funds" I can apply to this project, setting up bioreactors and carrying out complete chemical analysis on the algae and water is probably the limit of the scope.

Thanks again for the thoughts, I hope you have more

AT

Slippery,

Thanks for the input, I am reading and learing as quick as I can, it sure is nice to have conversations too.  One problem I am encountering is that my draft thesis proposal is due on June 30th, and there is little chance that in writing and working I will find the "idea" - which is ok, I can still do a good proposal with what I have so far.

I have been a little reluctant to simply purchase an algae strain and start growing it, I was hoping to try to find some local species and give them a try, but this may waste some time.  At this point if I could just get the water in my bioreactor to turn green I would feel success!  Do you think that a mat/attached strain would be better to investigate compared to a free-swimming strain?

Have you ever come seen any modual/package algae growth systems that one can basically put CO2/wastewater in one end and have oil come out the other? 

Thanks for the help!

AT