Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and ...
Transcript of Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and ...
Discussion Paper, Division of Research and Development, December 2009
Microalgae technology for bioenergy,
biosequestration, and water use efficiency
in Western Australian mining regions
Microalgae biofuel can provide energy security for the resources industry
Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency in Western Australian mining regions
" Base metals x Manganese ... Nickel 6 Bauxite-Alumina
• Coal • Diamonds
- Gold
• Petroleum
* Salt s Spongolite o Talc o Heavy Mineral Sands
+ Gypsum 10 Tin-Tantalum-Lith ium o Iron Ore
200km
Mutineer-Exeter Legendre Perseus-Athena .~ermes
North Rankin Angel
ECholYode~ Wanaea Hedland G~n Cossack Port
John Brookes Stag ' '1J~~cr r ~ Pardoe . Woollybun . • .. ~"t:ionsCapn OVarne
8arrowJ sland • Harnet " - Indee GriHm C·
. Vincent ~rest . NiH StyQarrow.9- Saladin . Woodie Woodie x [jjJ Y «Oil
Enfield OPannawomca Telfer Roller/Skate nslow Salt Cloud Break
Brockman 0 Marandoo o . . Paulsens 0 ~yandlqOOgll')a BHP
Tom Pric~rabu rdooO Va.ndlCoogma HI West AQgelas Mining Area C
ChannarO 0 Newman Hope Downs
+ Lake MacLeod Gypsum l ake Macl eod Sa~
• Plutonic
Si! OJack Hills Useless Loop Magellan • Jundee-Nimary
v Meekatharra--8luebird . ~ • Wiluna Bumakura • ...Mt Keith
T aliering Peak 0 Cosrnos ..... lein.ter
Sandstcn9- Agnew • uanot rOY eLawlers·
[jjJ Jaguar
'" Koolan Island
Argyle .
Blina/Lloyd Savannah ... • • Ellendale
Tanami-Coyote.
• Paddington . Golden Feather
Kundana East . Kanowna-Golden Mile . Golden Valley
Kambalda ... .. Coolgardie-- E arnllya HIli Redemption - J> ..... Mt Manger'
South Ka l Mines ... Silver LaKe l on
9Nickei
Watt e. am lanfranc~ , raml'"ays t.K b Ida Wannawa~ itet I srroe~ -
Higginsville . Lanfranchi Tramways
Central ... Emily Ann • Norseman
! SDkm I
Golden Grove Port Gregory Eremia [jjJ Murri n Murrin ... • Granny Smith
Gwalia-leonora· . Sunrise Dam Jin§eml8 Hovea.. Cliff ead . XyrisV Koolanooka
ongciti OThree Springs Beharra Spnngs Eneabba
Woodada
Koolyanobbing 0
Cooljarloo 0 Marvel Loch-Southern Cross
Der.ark S da ood "/lar anup
Yoganup Ludlow
North Capel Tutunup
Huntly ale
niffin
esfarmers ®Greenbushes
Jangardup S Wqogenellup
SEE ENLARGEMENT
Fig. 1: Major Mineral and Petroleum Projects in Western Australia. Source: [1].
www.murdoch.edu.au
Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency in Western Australian mining regions
Diverse, valuable products from microalgae
Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency in Western Australian mining regions
Using renewable energy in microalgae production
Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency in Western Australian mining regions
Applying excess groundwater from mining operations
Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency in Western Australian mining regions
Microalgae production allows biosequestration at source
Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency in Western Australian mining regions
RENEWABLE ENERGY ATLAS OF AUSTRALIA: Daily Solar Exposure - Annual Average
N
A ,-:::' .50",,=::500:-. __ ',.,000 _ Kilometres
www.environment.gov.au/renewablel atlas
o.partmml of U", b,irvnmml.
w.~. IIM"~~ •• d dot An,
Me-gaJouleslm'
----
-" -" _ 14
-" -" _17
-" -" 020 021 022 024
oc--.. _ ... (OopotMwo ..... ---,"""--' ~----o~ .. _ ... (Goooaor>to _ ... )2OCII --~- o':::::::=:lOt'ld ---" ___ tllIe_ ..
---~"" ~ .. -.,. ... c-... _ .. _ ThoC-",,"n<O _ _ .. _ .. .., _ .. _-,,.. , ..... _ ... --~-~-. -~_«AIN\~"'"
~-""--" _.~2001
-.E ___ ~fGCWW)
Fig. 3: Australian annual average daily solar exposure. Source: Renewable Energy Atlas of Australia.
RENEWABLE ENERGY ATLAS OF AUSTRALIA: Mean Annual Ra infall
N
A ,-,::'.50""=::500:-. __ ,,.,000 _ Kilometres
www.environment.gov.au/renewable/a tlas
AU5lra li.n Go"cr nmcnl
Ikpart ..... ' oflhe t:n.ironment. Wa' .... IIftir • • nd IkArb
Milt imetres
D 'IO D m D 'iSDSll 0 2120632
D 230 0 131
D 2IotD.· D JOO 1.113
D l52 _ -U50
0 ...
~-~ .. _ ... (o.o.:o.-..... E ___ ...
"'_12OOt --,,~ .. _ ... !Gooounte -,--O~ .. _ ... (_ .. -,--... _-_ .... ""_ .. ----"" _.- ..... ~ ... -.. -lhoc-_n<O _ _ .. _to"" _ .. __ .. -::.::=---"'....-~-.
~-"_,E_\_01 ... ~_fIo<_"'''' _ . 0.-2001 -.E ____ !G()IrII<)
Fig. 4: Australian mean annual rainfall. Source: Renewable Energy Atlas of Australia.
www.murdoch.edu.au
Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency in Western Australian mining regions
Amphora
Ettlia oleoabundans
Ankistrodesmus falcatus
Nannochloris
Synechococcus
Tribonema
Nannochloropsis
Pavlova lutheri
Pavlova salina
Nitzschia palea
Phaeodactylum tricornutum
Chlorella sorokiniana
Isochrysis galbana
Scenedesmus quadricauda
Porphyridium purpureum
o
Lipid productivity (mg.L·1 .day·1 ) (]l o o
o (]l o
I\) o o
I\) (]l o
w o o
w (]l o
Tetraselmis suecica ~=g,,===-------i
Monodopsis subterranea
Chlorella vulgaris
Scenedesmus obliquus
Chaetoceros muelleri
Chaetoceros calcitrans
Thalassiosira pseudonana
Skeletonema costa tum
Chlorella minutissima
Chlorella emersonii
Fig. 5: Species lipid productivity. (Average literature (dark grey). and calculated (light grey) values for biomass productivity - mg/Uday. Error bars show the min. and max. recorded lipid productivity for
literature values and propagation of error for calculated values). Source: [11].
www.murdoch.edu.au
Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency in Western Australian mining regions
Microalgae production methods
In terms of production methods, there are essentially two competing technologies for
commercial algae production: open raceway ponds or closed photobioreactors. Closed
photobioreactors contain the water inside complex transparent piping systems. While more
controllable, efficient and resistant to contamination by other biological organisms, are capital
intensive [5]. (Fig. 6). Higher oil algal strains generally grown slower than low oil strains,
which when contamination occurs results in greater populations of low oil species [5] (Table
4). New laboratory-based process optimisation studies regarding trace minerals, and other
nutrients are showing promising results that incrementally enhance commercial system yield
and cost-effectiveness [18]. The ability to control yield in photobioreactors are a significant
advantage over ponds. However, open ponds are a low cost option. The productivity of pond
production is reduced by poor mixing, and contamination by other algal and microorganism
species that consume algae [6] [8]. While less controllable, adjustments to the pond depth, cell
densities, pond temperatures, dissolved oxygen concentration, and pH in pond water,
increases productivity markedly despite competition from other organisms [12] [11].
The suitability of algae production for mining bioenergy and biosequestration is primarily
dependent on the price of crude oil. At $US60 a barrel for crude, microalgal oil would be cost
competitive at $USO.4l1L, whilst at $US80 a barrel microalgal oil would compete at
$USO. 5 5fL (all pre-tax). Therefore, a reasonable medium-term target price for algal oil for
algal biodiesel cost competitiveness with petroleum diesel is $US0.48fL pre-tax. Chisti (2007)
undertook an economic analysis to compare the operating costs of a photobioreactor and
open pond. Assuming 30% oil content by weight, the cost of production for the
photobioreactor was estimated at $US9.83fL and the open pond was $US12.6fL [6]. (Table 5).
Fig. 6: Professor Borowitzka's helical tubular photobioreactor at Murdoch University. Source: [6].
www.murdoch.edu.au
Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency in Western Australian mining regions
These costs are sensitive to economies of scale. With a 100-fold scale increase to 600 photobioreactor units, or SO ha of ponds, the algal oil photobioreactor and pond production price was projected to be $US1.40 and $US1.Sl (pre-tax), respectively. The recovery process comprises roughly half of this total algal oil cost [6].
Table 4: Oil content of some microalgae species. Source: [6].
Microalga
Botl)lOCOCCIiS bralillii
Chlorella sr. C,yplliecodillilll11 collll i;
Cylilldmrheca sr. Dwwliella prill/olec/a Isoch lysis sr. MOllal/al/llms salina N ail/lOch/oris sr. Nal1llOch/oropsis sr. Neochloris o/eoabwl(/alls Nil::schia sr. P/weoda cly /wl/ tricorn/llt llll
Schi::.ocliy lrilll1l sp. Telrase/mis slIeica
Oil content (% dry wt)
25- 75 28- 32 20 16- 37 23 25- 33 >20 20- 35 3 1- 68 35- 54 45-47 20-30 50- 77 15- 23
Table 5: Comparison of photobioreactor and pond production methods. Source: [6].
Variable Photobioreactor Raceway ponds fac ility
Annual biomass 100,000 100,000 production (kg)
Volumetric productivity 1.535 0.117 (kg 111- ' d- I)
Areal productivity 0.048 " 0.035 b
(kg 111- 2 d- I) 0.072 c
Biomass concentration 4.00 0.14 in broth (kg 111- ' )
Dilu tion mle (d- I ) 0.384 0.250 Area needed (m2
) 5681 7828 Oil yield ( Ill' ha - I) 136.9 d 99.4 d
58.7' 42.6 ' Annual CO2 183,333 183,333
consumption (kg) System geometry 132 para llel tubes/unit; 978 m2/pond; 12 III
80 111 long tubes; wide, 82 111 long, 0.06 III tube diameter 0.30 III deep
Number of units 6 8
a Based on faci lity area . b Based on actual pond area. C Based on projected arca of photobiorcactor wbcs. d Based on 70% by WI oil in biol11ass. e Based on 30% by wt oil in biomass.
www.murdoch.edu.au
Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency in Western Australian mining regions
The future for algal bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency
Microalgae technology for bioenergy, biosequestration, and water use efficiency in Western Australian mining regions
Di
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