NREL researcher analyzes algal samples for oil content.
Credit: Pat Corkery.
Research into microalgal production of liquid transportation fuels is reemerging at NREL. Oil-rich algae are capable of producing the feedstock for a number of transportation fuels—biodiesel, "green" diesel and gasoline, and jet fuel—while mitigating the effects of carbon dioxide release from sources such as power plants. Microalgae (microscopic algae) include a wide variety of photosynthetic microorganisms that use solar energy to combine water with carbon dioxide to create biomass more efficiently and rapidly than terrestrial plants.
Learn about current microalgal research and development at NREL on this page. See the following pages for more information on:
Current Microagal R&D at NREL
With a number of undiscovered, potentially valuable microalgal strains, NREL is using a 2007 seed grant from the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels to establish the first bioenergy-focused microalgal strain collection. NREL and the Colorado School of Mines are leveraging their combined capabilities and expertise in bioprospecting, flow cytometry, high-throughput robotics, and algal growth/characterization to isolate, identify, and purify a variety of aquatic microalgal strains.
In October 2007, NREL and Chevron Corp. signed a Department of Energy (DOE) cooperative research and development agreement to collaboratively develop techniques to research the production of liquid transportation fuels using microalgae. NREL and Chevron scientists are collaborating to identify and develop microalgal strains that can be economically harvested and processed into finished transportation fuels.
As part of an ongoing collaboration with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), in February 2008, NREL and AFOSR held a joint workshop that convened a panel of microalgae experts to discuss a variety of basic science research issues surrounding microalgal oil production. The panel discussed subtopics including open-pond and closed photobioreactors, algal bioprospecting from diverse aquatic environments, maintenance of algal culture collections and cryopreservation, algal genomics, and biosafety issues. The goal of the workshop was to produce a roadmap for future basic research leading to commercialization of algal biofuels.
Laboratory Directed Research and Development
The NREL Laboratory Directed Research and Development program—an internal research program that explores and develops innovative concepts—awarded support for one algal biofuels project in 2007 and two additional projects in 2008. The first project aims to develop a high-throughput, data-rich technique to assess lipid production in microalgae that provides spectroscopic data sets amenable to multivariate analysis. This project identifies rapid analytical techniques used to determine oil content in microalgae and isolate those strands that absorb high levels of sunlight. Combining a high-throughput, robotics-based platform with two advanced chemical characterization techniques—pyrolysis-molecular beam mass spectroscopy and near-infra red spectroscopy—this project characterizes the lipid production by algal species.
One of the projects approved in 2008 will make use of the Illumina Genome Analyzer, a novel gene-sequencing technology for high-throughput transcriptomics analysis of microbial strains used for biofuel production. Transcriptomics is the study of gene expression patterns that vary with external environmental conditions. By examining the changes in messenger RNA populations within cells grown under conditions of enhanced lipid production, scientists can determine the biological triggers for lipid production in microalgae. This technology represents the latest generation in rapid DNA-sequencing methodology and will allow for the generation of de novo genome sequences and whole transcriptome analyses to aid researchers in identifying genes and pathways involved in algal biofuel production.
The second algae LDRD project funded in 2008 aims to engineer cyanobacteria (a form of prokaryotic algae) to divert biosynthetic pathways away from glycogen synthesis and toward lipid synthesis. Cyanobacteria are not currently considered to be good candidates for high density biofuel production because they typically produce carbohydrates as storage products rather than lipids. This project takes advantage of advanced methods for genetic manipulation available for cyanobacteria.
To identify and prioritize R&D needs for commercialization, DOE will host the Algal Biofuels Workshop in Washington, D.C., in December 2008. NREL and Sandia National Laboratories are working with DOE to plan and conduct this workshop, which will provide input to a first draft for an algal biofuels roadmap. The workshop will lay the framework for the roadmap by drawing upon the expertise of a carefully balanced group of invited scientists and other experts in the various required disciplines (e.g., biology, systems and process engineering, modeling and analysis, algae cultivation, algal oil extraction and conversion, algal-based co-products, water and land use, and policy and regulatory issues). Workshop participants will help define activities needed to resolve uncertainties associated with commercial-scale algal biofuel production. Upon completion of review and concurrence cycles, the roadmap will be made available to the general scientific community in 2009.
For additional information about algal work at NREL, see the Basic Sciences Research site to learn about producing hydrogen from algae.
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