The pilot-scale Integrated Biorefinery of Algenol

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Name
Fort Myers pilot-scale Integrated Biorefinery (IBR)
Company
Algenol
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.

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