$5 million pact to study making fuel from algae

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 1, 2008 at 2:30 p.m.
Updated July 1, 2008 at 2:30 p.m.

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ConocoPhillips has signed a $5 million agreement with a Colorado biofuels center to help find the next generation of low-carbon fuels, including fuel made from algae, also known as pond scum.

"Colorado is an incubator of renewable and alternative energy technology," ConocoPhillips spokesman Bill Tanner said this morning, on the heels of the announcement of the $5 million research agreement with the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels or C2B2.

"That's why we're looking to expand our presence by building an energy research center in Louisville." That center, which eventually might generate 7,000 jobs, is slated to open in 2011 or 2012.

C2B2, established last year, is part of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, a joint venture of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado State University, the Colorado School of Mines and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden.

David Hiller, executive director of the Colorado Collaboratory, said the agreement "is another milestone in our drive to make Colorado the nation's renewable energy capital."

One project the scientists will collaborate on is looking at ways to convert algae into a low-carbon fuel for cars, trucks and buses.

Among the many kinds of algae in the nation's oceans, lakes and swimming pools are some varieties that have high concentrations of the glycerol molecule, an ingredient in many kinds of motor fuel.

The Jimmy Carter administration put some money into algae research in the 1970s, but the conclusion was that it could never compete with oil as a source for automobile fuel.

Things have changed, though, note the authors of the best seller, Earth: The Sequel.

For one thing, the price of oil has tripled, and now stands at greater than $140 a barrel.

For another, there are moves — some mandated — to lower the carbon footprint, especially from vehicles.

And there is an increased emphasis on energy independence as a matter of national security.

Algae are the fastest growing plants on Earth, able to double in size in a few hours, making it possible to harvest daily, says Miriam Horn, co-author of Earth: The Sequel. And they are very oily, producing 30 times more oil per acre than rapeseed or sunflowers, Horn said.

They can grow anywhere, in sewers, in water that is boiling, salty or freezing.

They eat pollution, neutralize acids and convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and biomass, she said.

Besides growing at a phenomenal rate, algae isn't going to take food away from humans and cows, as corn can do when farmers sell the crop for ethanol, said Al Weimer, executive director of C2B2.

It can be grown in tubes in the Arizona desert where nothing much else grows, the blazing sun increasing the growth rate, he said.

"We're getting huge interest from utilities and oil companies," Weimer said.

The carbon dioxide in the coal plants' smokestacks can be captured, concentrated and piped to the greenhouses as food for the algae.

"It's a way to recycle algae and help reduce the footprint," he said.

Some recent calculations suggest that if 20 percent of the Mohave Desert is converted to algae production, it can supply all the gasoline consumed in the United States, he said.

And if that's too much development for one desert, there's always the Sonora Desert, or a desert in Mexico, or other land throughout the United States, he said.

"We've shown conversions where more than 80 percent of the carbon dioxide from the coal plants is consumed by the algae in the greenhouses," said Weimer, who also is a chemistry professor at CU-Boulder.

ConocoPhillips has been a strong supporter of C2B2 and chose Louisville for its research facility in part because it's just an hour's drive from the three universities and from NREL, he said.

Weimer said the new partnership — the $5 million is the largest awarded to C2B2 — is likely the first of several between C2B2 and ConocoPhillips.

"We're pleased with the opportunity to conduct research with them," Tanner said.

Stephen Brand, ConocoPhillips senior vice president for technology, said his company found the right partner in its commitment to drive discovery of the next generation of transportation fuels.

scanlon@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2897

• July 1, 2008

  2:37 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  temurlan writes:

  At least the new fuel would be "green".

• July 2, 2008

  8:54 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  greenleaf writes:

  Gene,

  Pretty funny: "big algae".:>)

• July 2, 2008

  10:57 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  jbowen43 writes:

  Jimmy Carter was way ahead of the curve when it comes to energy, but then he almost always is ahead of the public on the important subjects.

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