Featured Project: Algae-based Biofuels

Based on a review of the scientific literature, algae-based biofuels seem to have the greatest potential for replacing non-renewable fuels. For example, algae could be a domestic and renewable feedstock for biodiesel fuel in the United States. The Algae to Biofuel Life Cycle shown in this figure illustrates the four Steps involved in the process of converting Algae to Biodiesel. Biofuel in it's simplest form is the unaltered biomass, which can be burned to break the biochemical bonds and re-release the stored energy. Normally the term biofuel, however, refers to a fuel that is created from a relatively recent living organism. This also implies that a biofuel is renewable, or can be replaced by natural processes faster than it is consumed.

The mission of the algae-based biofuels program at UTSA is to develop an economically viable algal growth system for production of biomass or biofuel. With this in mind, we focused on the growth phase of the Biofuel Life Cycle in our most recent publication. Murray et al. (2011) Three figures shown here are from the laboratory-scale experiments completed as part of that study. Microalgal growth normally begins with a monoculture at the flask-level as illustrated in the first figure. The culture is then up-scaled to allow for biomass production as shown in the second figure. After biomass production has reached a stationary phase, the biomass can be harvested as shown in the third figure. We are examining microalgal growth in various liquid media and particularly interested in open culture systems because they have the lowest capitalization and long-term maintenance cost. Our open system experiments are being used to investigate growth system parameters, lighting, and carbon delivery mechanisms that promote optimal growth rates and short doubling times of the organisms.