The benefits of algae are shown in Table 4.1.

4.2.4

Navy Orders

Algae’s big moment has come! Solazyme Inc. (www. solazyme. com) has delivered to the Navy 20’000 gallons of renewable algae derived F-76 Naval distillate fuel for use in Navy ships. In the overall fuel market, 20 000 gallons is not a large amount. The United States consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day and a barrel contains 42 gallons. However, 20 000 gallons in the algae world is very, very substantial. Also Solazyme has supplied 1’500 gallons of 100% algae derived jet fuel for testing and certification by the U. S. Navy. In addition the U. S. Navy wants to buy an additional 150’000 gallons of distillate fuel from Solazyme. The overall conclusion is that the Navy is happy with the performance of the fuel. The new contract with the U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) is for a research and development project in order to replace 50% of the Navy’s heavy diesel fuel by 2020. Algae are not only used as fuels but also in skin care products. Solazyme has developed a new generation of innovative skin care products based on the characteristics of algae. The brand is called Algenist and is distributed in the QVC and Sephora stores.

Expect to see more deals like this in the future as algae companies move toward commercialization. Other names to keep an eye out for include Synthetic

Table 4.1 Benefits of algae

Microalgae, as distinct from seaweed or macroalgae, can potentially produce 100 times more oil per acre than soybeans — or any other terrestrial oil-producing crop.

Algae can be cultivated in large open ponds or in closed photobioreactors located on non-arable land in a variety of climates (including deserts).

Many species of algae thrive in seawater, water from saline aquifers, or even wastewater from treatment plants.

During photosynthesis, algae use solar energy to fix carbon dioxide into biomass, so the water used to cultivate algae must be enriched with carbon dioxide. This requirement offers an opportunity to make productive use of the carbon dioxide from power plants, biofuel facilities, and other sources.

The lipids produced by algae can be used to produce a range of biofuels and the remaining biomass residue has a variety of useful applications: combust to generate heat, use in anaerobic digesters to produce methane, use as a fermentation feedstock in the production of ethanol, or use in value-added byproducts, such as animal feed. It is also being used in breast cancer treatment.

Genomics, Sapphire Energy, OriginOil, Aurora Biofuels, and Solix. Solazyme, by the way, is one of the iconoclasts of the industry. Rather than grow algae in big ponds, it cooks it in big vats with sugar (see Chapter 20). This adds raw material costs, but Solazyme does not have to separate its algae from water to press it for oil — a key consideration.

What are algae’s obstacles? There are over 100 000 kinds of algae. They are not yet domesticated and researchers still have great difficulty obtaining stable algae cultivation. Algae are infected by weed algae, grazers, ameba, fungi, bacteria, and other viruses. They are a constant, unpredictable, and variable threat. This is the central problem of algae mass cultivation.

Algae is not used for food and genetically modified algae has the highest oil content. All in all, the green slime has a great future!

4.3