Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will expand their algae research this year, revamping a portion of the school’s Beadle Center greenhouse to accommodate an algal biofuels research facility.
Scientists will begin growing algae in small containers, moving to oblong ponds, in an effort to address three important goals: identify the best strains for maximum oil production; identify optimal growing conditions; and modify the algae for maximum cell density, according to Paul Black, a lipid biochemist at the university. The team is working currently with a photo bioreactor that is designed to increase cell density per unit volume from about two grams per liter to eight to 10 grams per liter, by exploring maximum light and carbon dioxide conditions, Black said. “You’re in essence, fooling them,” he said of the algae strains.
The university received $1.9 million in federal funding for its research and is in line for tens of millions more for several related research angles, including one that would couple new research with UNL’s already robust corn-ethanol byproducts research, according to the university.
Black and fellow scientists are working now with natural strains, but the possibility of genetic modification exists, depending on what genes are turned on or off by certain stimuli, such as light. “It depends on what we come across,” he said. “There’s a lot of serendipity in science.”
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High-cell density is important because it can make it simpler to harvest the algae. In addition, the team will work to optimize oil extraction. “And that’s a bit of a task,” Black said. The team has used organic solvents, but is looking at strategies such as the use of carbon dioxide and high pressure.
No timeline has been established for tangible results, but Black expects the team will have a good indication of how photo bioreactors work within six to eight months, and will be screening algal strains. “We’re just now gearing up to do this,” he said, adding that after about 10 months, the scientists should have some compelling data that hopefully will attract interest and investments for further research and the development of an algae growth industry.
That industry, though, is more than likely a few years away, Black says, citing cell density, quality oil and oil extraction as major barriers. “I would say it will be five to seven years before we really get to a point of making it commercially viable,” he said. “We’ve got some blocks in front of us, but they’re not insurmountable.”