Microalgal Biotechnology: Opportunities and Challenges for Bioremediation, Bioenergy, Food and Feed Production

Johan U Grobbelaar Department of Plant Sciences University of the Free State Bloemfontein, South Africa

My Definition of Microalgal Biotechnology:

The intensive growth and production of microalgae in photobioreactors and the marketing of biomass, products or benefits for economic gain.

This answers amongst others the South African Government and the Department of Science and Technology calls to place South Africa amongst the world leaders in the application of biotechnology and economic empowerment.

Microalgae as model organisms for BIOTECHNOLOGY

Why do microalgae have a competitive advantage over conventional higher plants? They have very high growth rates Due to their high surface to volume ratio they have e.g. high uptake rates The are cosmopolitan and strains can tolerate extremes They do not require good agriculture soils or water They can be grown in dense photobioreactors They produce high valued products They require 1/20 the water compared to conventional agriculture to produce the equivalent useable biomass, or 30 times more oil per area than rapeseed

Requirements for growing microalgae (autotrophic)

Biomass Phytonutrients Bioenergy Wastewater Food and Feed Bioremediation

C as CO2, HCO3- & CO3=, pH N, P, K, Ca, Fe, Mg, Cl, S, etc.

Microalga

Photobioreactor Optimal Temperature Turbulence

BIOREACTOR = container in which living organisms carry out biological reactions Applied phycologists have made a distinction between open and closed photobioreactors (PBR)

Closed Tubular PBR

Open Cascade PBR

Major Differences
Parameter Contamination risk Water losses CO2-losses Reproducibility of production Process control Standardization Weather dependence Maintenance Construction costs Biomass concentrations at harvesting Overheating problems Super dissolved oxygen concentrations *Very high in thin-layer sloping systems Open ponds (raceway ponds) High High High Variable but consistent over time Complicated Difficult High Easy Low Low* Low Low Closed systems (PBR systems) Low Low Almost none Possible within certain tolerances Less complicated Possible Less because protected Difficult High High High High

Green Technology
O2 + N CO2

Recycled water

Ethanol/Methanol/ Butanol

Biodiesel

Protein Residue

Other valuable products

Not so Simple
Since there is no MANUAL or BLUE PRINT available to aspirant commercial algal biotechnologists, the following are the realities of the day: In most cases interested parties re-invent the wheel Advice is at most sought from one expert with some input from engineering and technological services Engineering excellence often over shadows biology
An example of engineering excellence, but with predictable poor photobiology. (with apology to the producer)

Some Projects
Musina Spirulina as food supplement CO2 sequistration by Xtrata Nannochloropsis for aquaculture and bioenergy

Musina Spirulina
1st Step was to decide on an organism and to produce a prospective investors document. 2nd Step was to identify suitable areas for producing Spirulina, taking only two criteria into consideration, i.e. annual temperature cycle and the availability of water.
Limpopo Province with the Limpopo River forming the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana

Northern Cape with the Orange River

LED funding determined Musina

Musina the ideal location for Spirulina production

1) Annual average temperature higher than 18 oC (maximum temperatures May-Aug = 24 oC, Dec-Feb = 37 oC ). 2) Minimal precipitation (<250 mm) and few days with cloud cover (<25 days). 1400 40 pollution 3) Availability of unpolluted freshwater and minimal air (Limpopo1200 River has no large cities or industries in its catchment 35 and sand 1000 filtered water is available in Musina). 4) Basic infrastructure (Musina is a small Town with 3030 000 800 inhabitants supporting mining and agriculture). 25 5) Accessible 600 (Rail and Road network available). 20 6) Available manpower (Musina severs a community with serious 400 unemployment following the closure of copper mines). 15 200 7) Land and preferably of low agriculture value (area is semi-arid 0 10 and supports manly cattle and wild-life farming). 0 5 10 15 20
Solar radiation W m
-2

Hours of day

Temperature C

Musina system:
Open Raceways: Depth 100 150 mm HDPE Lined Paddle Wheel mixed CO2 supply

Production Ponds: 2 x 2 m2 2 x 20 m2 2 x 500 m2 4 x 2000 m2

Storage Raw water

Musina Spirulina Process

Harvesting

Nutrient Solution

Production Ponds

Drying

CO2

Packaging & Marketing

Quality Control

8 Fin HDPE Paddle Wheel Contruction Sweco Vibrating Sieve Construction

Grgens Turbo-Rotor Mill/Dryer

Bag Filter Turbo-Rotor Mill/Dryer Heater Rotor after a drying cycle of 6 h Warm turbulent atmosphere For flash evaporation drying

Benefits brought to the community with this project were:

Job creation Training Science awareness Economic empowerment

Bioremediation of point source CO2 emissions

Greenhouse Gasses: CO2 Ozone SO2 NOx

The Problem
Atmospheric CO2 levels have increased from 260 to >360 ppm during the last century The increase is directly correlated with industrialization and green house gas emissions Global warming and climate change are ascribed to increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations Green technologies are a requirement in the global economy

Many options have been proposed and employed to sequistrate CO2, especially from point source emissions. Common to all are their limited capacity. Options available are:

Chemical binding with e.g. Mg(OH)2, NaOH, or Ca(OH)2, Methane synthesis, Deposition in earth gas fields or in the deep oceans, and Biological processes including photosynthetic fixation or
specific enzymatic reactions.

Green Plants have been fixing CO2 for at least 3 billion years

The Carbon Neutral Process

Neutral CO2 Cycle

Coal Algal Biomass

The Reality:
The area needed and technology required would be very costly to fix the CO2 produced from a medium sized coal-fired electric power station.

And,
Any photosynthetically driven CO2 fixation system would be cyclic in the sense of diurnal and seasonal light/dark cycles.

However,

No

higher plant phytomass production system can compete with microalgae in terms of production rates and potential adaptation to different climatic and growth conditions. Although the CO2-uptake will be cyclic, either diurnal and/or seasonal (light dependant), it is possible to combine it with other CO2-fixing processes. The phytomass fixation should form part of a holistic CO2 reduction programme. The produced phytomass would have an economic value (e.g. as bioenergy, food or feed, fine chemicals, biofertilizer, etc.), including environmental taxes, against which the costs could be deferred. Most other processes essentially imply no return and represent a net loss.

We are of the opinion that algal biotechnology hold the most promise as a real means of bioremediation for CO2 point source pollution and sustainability of the planet.

Workshop recently held at the Science Museum, London

Wastewater Treatment
World-wide wastewater is treated using a variety of processes, referred too as Sustainable nutrient management. Anaerobic digestion is widely used where digestion strips nitrogen and phosphorus from the wastewater, in what is known as a activated sludge process. During digestion, organic matter is converted to carbon dioxide, methane, trace gases, water, and a stabilized slurry. A major problem is the resultant digester effluent and stabilized manure slurry. The latter requires further treatment. Common in South Africa

Further processes include:

Biological and chemical P removal Wetlands (man-made) High Rate Algal Ponds (HARPs) Advanced Pond Systems (APS) Algae Involved

HRAP William Oswald

Nutrients CO2

Wastewater

Bacteria Protozoa O2

Algae

Benefits: Cheap Simple to operate Odorless Valuable products

ALBAZOD Treated Product Wastewater

Advantages of the HRAP and ASP Use Integrated ecological engineering principals Minimal odour Simple operation and maintenance Construction and operating costs typically 50% that of mechanical treatment plants Significant energy and nutrient recovery

Biofuels and Bioenergy

All petrol sold on the UK must contain 5 % biofuel. By 2020 of all transport fuels sold in the EU must contain 10 % biofuel. The Energy Independence and Security Act of the US determines that by 2022, 36 billion gallons of biofuel must be produced.

Do biofuels increase food scarcity and price? Yes, if conventional crops are used making algal biofuels even more attractive

Algae do not compete with conventional agriculture or food production

The third generation biofuels made from algae is not only a carbon neutral solution, it:

It has 1.5 times more energy per litre fuel compared to JetA1-Fuel Up to 40 % less NOxs 60 times less SOxs

No Is this a dream?

Biofuels a reality in aviation

Propelled exclusively by algal produced biofuel

Amazing claims are made, many of them in popular media, i.e. YouTube, Google, Yahoo and many other, such as the potential production of >1 200 L oil ha-1 d-1! This equates to a biomass productivity of about 400 g(dw) m-2 d-1!.
5 Volumetric Productivity (g L )
-1

Data from Lee (2001)

160 Areal Productivity (g(dw) m d )

y = 0.3119 + 3.84 x r 2 = 0.57

-2
15 20

-1

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 5 10 Optical depth (cm) 15 20

0 0 5 10 Optical depth (cm)

Highest productivities reported for PBRs ( ) and open ponds ( ) according to Lee (2001)

The upper limit of photosynthesis at 8 % photosynthetic efficiency would yield about 200 g (dw) m-2 d-1 or 14 tons of biomass per week per ha, or 700 tons per ha per year

At present we are only at about 25 30 g (dw) m-2 d-1 and at a photosynthetic efficiency of around 1 %

Conclusions
Present microalgal production rates can be doubled
with a systematic analysis of a number of factors. This would require collaboration and R&D funding without restrictive conditions Algal bioprospecting is at its infancy and new species with unique properties are found almost daily, especially in extreme locations Microalgal biotechnology offers unique opportunities for economic empowerment and upliftment, especially in rural and agricultural marginal areas South and southern Africa has ideal locations for mega microalgal biotechnology projects

Open Raceway Ponds will be the reactor of choice for any mega microalgal production plants at least in the foreseeable future. Raceway ponds suffer from amongst others, the formation of dead zones, laminar flow and consequently poor nutrient and metabolite exchange rates, large optical depth and limited fluctuating light regimes. Vertical mixing is imperative to ensure high productivities. A systematic analysis of improving mixing in raceway production ponds is needed and CFM should be used to model and optimise designs.