The pilot-scale Integrated Biorefinery of Algenol
Name
|
Fort Myers pilot-scale Integrated Biorefinery (IBR)
|
Company
|
|
Location
|
Fort Myers (Florida, USA)
|
Category
|
Pilot plant /
Demonstration
|
Status
|
Running
|
Feedstock
|
Cyanobacteria
|
Products
|
Ethanol,
diesel, jet fuel and gasoline
|
Start-up
|
2013
|
Figure
1. Aerial view of Algenol’s IBR (extracted from Reference 5)
GENERAL
INFORMATION
Algenol
is an advanced industrial biotechnology company founded in 2006 that has
developed a patented technology (Direct to Ethanol®) using algae to produce the
four most widely used fuels (ethanol, gasoline, jet and diesel fuel). The
majority of the fuel (about 85 percent) is ethanol. It has a commercial
development campus with molecular biology, culture collection, physiology,
aquaculture, analytical chemistry and engineering laboratories in Fort Myers (Florida).
The campus includes the Process Development Unit (PDU) which itself consists of
a aquaculture laboratory, two large inoculation greenhouses and an outdoor
controlled testing area for initial deployment and optimization activities.
Also, it owns research labs in Berlin (Germany).
In
October 2011, Algenol started the construction of the pilot-scale Integrated
Biorefinery (IBR) in Fort Myers on 14.5 ha adjacent to the PDU. The USA
Department of Energy (DOE) provided a $25 million grant to Algenol towards the
development of the IBR in 2009. Lee County's Economic Development Committee
also allocated a $10 million grant in 2010 and about $90 million was raised
from private institutes by 2011 to start the construction of the plant. Upon
completion of the IBR in 2013, Algenol established a platform where an algae
strain can go from lab-scale development to pre-commercial scale production on
one site. Since 2013, it continues to operate it to demonstrate the commercial
viability of the technology by showcasing all of the upstream and downstream
systems necessary to produce ethanol. The IBR contains thousands of
photobioreactors in 2 acres along with supporting processes and infrastructure to
produce 16,000 gallons of ethanol per year.
DIRECT
TO ETHANOL® TECHNOLOGY
Direct
to ethanol® technology uses sunlight, algae, non-arable land and carbon dioxide
to produce ethanol and spent algae that can be converted into other by-products.
This proprietary technology employs enhanced cyanobacteria and photosynthesis
to convert CO2 and seawater into “sugar” (pyruvate) and then into
ethanol and biomass.
This
technology has three core components:
1.
Algae Platform
Algenol
enhances a natural ability found in many strains of cyanobacteria to produce
ethanol by over expressing fermentation pathway enzymes channeling the majority
of photosynthetically fixed carbon into ethanol production rather than routine
cell maintenance. The company has approximately 2,300 algae strains that have
been collected globally, characterized and screened in order to identify
strains that are uniquely qualified for commercial ethanol production.
2.
Specialized VIPER™ Photobioreactors
Another
key component is a proprietary flexible plastic film photobioreactor (PBR) that
facilitates product creation and collection. The polyethylene used for PBR
construction has been specifically engineered and enhanced with special
additives and coatings to optimize performance. Each individual PBR consists of
ports for ethanol and biomass collection and the introduction of CO2
and nutrients. Closed system provides protection from environmental
contamination.
3.
Energy Efficient Downstream Processing
The
proprietary Vapor Compression Steam Stripping (VCSS) technology purifies the
ethanol for downstream processing using standard distillation and membrane
technologies in order to produce fuel grade ethanol.
Figure
2. Scheme of the Direct to ethanol® basis (extracted from Reference 5)
THE
BIOREFINERY MODEL
Algae
are grown in the PBRs in a production cycle that lasts 4 weeks. Ethanol
diffuses from the cell into the culture medium and is collected without the
need to destroy the algae. Gravity facilitates the collection of the ethanol
and spent algae from the PBRs. Afterwards, the biomass are separated from the
water-ethanol mixture. This mixture is sent to downstream processing equipment
which separates and concentrates it into fuel grade ethanol. Spent algae are
processed into a high grade green crude that can be refined into diesel,
gasoline and jet fuel.
According
to the company, the model shows the following figures:
- 1 ton of CO2 becomes 144 gallons (545 litres) of fuel (125 gallons of ethanol and 19 gallons of diesel, jet fuel and gasoline).
- Productivity > 8,000 TGOLF (Total Gallons of Liquid Fuel) per acre-year (corn etanol = 480).
- OpEx ≤ $1.30 per gallon.
Figure 3. Specialized
VIPER™ Photobioreactors (extracted from Reference 5)
_________________________________________________________________________________
REFERENCES
1 www.algenol.com (accessed on 24th May 2016).
2 www.chemicals-technology.com/projects/algenol-biofuels-integrated-bio-refinery-florida
(accessed on 24th May 2016).
3 ethanolproducer.com/articles/12629/algenol-ethanol-plant-will-have-capacity-to-produce-18-mmgy
(accessed on 24th May 2016).
4 P.
Woods, D. Kramer, and R. Chance: “The
Algenol DIRECT TO ETHANOL® Process” (Presentation). Presented at the
Bundesalgenstammtisch 5th Federal Algae Roundtable Meeting, March 26th, 2012.
5 “Algenol”
(Presentation). U.S. – China Clean Coal Industry Forum Billings, Montana, August
29th, 2015.
