En el marco de la jornada Microalgas, ¿una fuente de petróleo verde?, organizada con IMDEA y celebrada el 8 de abril en EOI, Escuela de Organización Industrial, René H. Wijffels, profesor de la Universidad de Wageningen en Holanda, presenta su trabajo sobre biodiesel producido por microalgas, la factibilidad de este estudio y la biorafinería de las microalgas. Finalmente concluye con la presentación de las diversas fases de investigación hasta llegar a la producción de biocombustibles, alimentos y productos químicos.

1. Microalgae for production of biofuels, food and chemicals René H. Wijffels www.algae.wur.nl

2. Contents Biodiesel from microalgae Feasibility study Biorefinery of microalgae Research agenda

3. Biodiesel from microalgae Botryococcus Alkanes (C34) High concentrations (40-70%) Other algae 20-60% lipids High productivity Palm oil: 6,000 l/ha/year Algae: 20,000-80,000 l/ha/year No competition with food Salt water

4. Feasibility study Delta nv Raceway ponds Horizontal tubes Flat panels

5. Biomass production cost 1 ha 10.62 € / kg biomass Labor 28% Power 22% 100 ha Power 42% 4.02 € / kg biomass 89% decrease potential 0.4 € / kg biomass 15 €/GJ

6. Economical Viability: biorefinery of microalgae Bulk chemicals and biofuels in 1,000 kg microalgae 400 kg lipids 100 kg as feedstock chemical industry (2 €/kg lipids) 300 kg as transport fuel (0.50 €/kg lipids) 500 kg proteins 100 kg for food (5 €/kg protein) 400 kg for feed (0.75 €/kg protein) 100 kg polysaccharides 1 €/kg polysaccharides 70 kg of N removed 2 €/kg nitrogen 1,600 kg oxygen produced 0.16 €/kg oxygen Production costs: 0.40 €/kg biomass Value: 1.65 €/kg biomass

7. Wageningen research agenda Photobioreactor design O2 removal and CO2 supply Biofilms for post-treatment wastewater Control of primary metabolism Harvesting and Oil extraction Biorefinery Design scenarios AlgaePARC

8. Photobioreactor design Closed photobioreactors Maximization of photosynthetic efficiency/productivity High light intensity/shading High biomass density Energy input Shear effects Growth inhibition Light guides Flashing light effect Variations in light intensity

9. Real productivity? Light saturation? Nutrient limitations? CO2 Inhibition? O2, light 9.0 % reflection on PBR x 0.96 8.6 % night biomass loss x 0.90 7.8 % maintenance x 0.95 What’s left ?... 7.4% Process design Practice?... 3 - 4%

10. Light dilution in the lab Dilution of light By vertical flat panels Imitation of day/night cycles Model system: Chlorella sorokiniana 1.4 cm panel reactor

11. Light dilution in the lab PE = 4.2 % PE = 6.5 %

12. Light dilution in practice Vertical panels Submerged (SolixBiofuels) Inflatable bags (Proviron

13. Control primary metabolism Objective: control metabolism High yield on light Production of lipids Production of colorants Metabolic network model and flux calculations to predict rates in primary metabolism Research reactor to apply wide range of cultivation conditions On-line monitoring of production and consumption rates (CO2, O2, N, biomass)

14. Building a metabolic model Model organism: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii A metabolic model was built About 300 enzymatic reactions were modeled Lumping linear pathways 159 reactions and 161 metabolites 35 enzymes were not annotated 28 were retrieved in the C. reinhardtii genomewith sequences of related organisms 7 remain missing Checked by comparing Photosynthetic Quotient (O2 production rate/CO2 uptake rate, Quantum Requirement (mol light quanta needed per mol O2 produced) and Biomass yield (g biomass/mol photons)

15. Projects Genome based metabolic flux model for Chlamydomonas (Annette Kliphuis) Metabolic flux models and lipid accumulation in green algae (Anne Klok) Metabolic flux models and lipid accumulation in diatoms (Packo Lamers) Metabolic flux models and colorant production (Kim Mulders) Metabolic flux models and alkane accumulation in Botryococcus (contract negotiation)

16. Design scenarios - Ellen Slegers Objective Develop scenarios for production of energy carriers at very large scale Why Logistics: complexity and energy use of supply of materials Research issues Sustainability Scale Location

17. AlgaePARC Algae Production And Research Centre

18. Algae PARC: Objectives Build up an international , open and independent centre for applied research Translate research towards applications Acquire Information for design of full scale plants Develop competitive technology (economic viability and positive energy balance) Cradle to Cradle: Closing material loops - CO2, N, P To be applied in and outside the Netherlands Defined Research Programme (5 years) & Contract research Production of algal biomass for bulk chemicals, food and feed ingredients and biofuels Pilot as intermediate between lab and demo

19. Translate research towards applications Stage 1 R&D Stage 3 Scale-up Stage 2 test & pilot Fundamental Research Demos 25 000 m2 25 m2 2.5 m2 Encountered problems are to be rethought and solved at previous stages Industrial partners WUR / WETSUS AlgaePARC

21. Experience with systems

22. Information for design of full scale plants

23. Comparison of systems

24. Comparison of strains

25. Comparison of feeds (nutrients, CO2, sunlight…)

28. Conclusions Systems Biology Design Application development Systems Design Metabolic Modelling Strain Development Product processing Chains Fermentation technology Bioprocess Engineering Analytics Scale-up Biorefinery We are developing a new technology for cost-effective production of fuels, foods and chemicals from algae Requires a multidisciplinary approach We are active in all these disciplines 4 examples were shown: reactor technology, metabolic modelling, system design and AlgaePARC

29. Alg: taaie rakker die zich niet zo maar laat kraken Dagblad van het Noorden 22 oktober 2009 Is er een groenere bron van brandstof denkbaar dan de alg? Wie er in slaagt op grote schaal olie en biogas te winnen uit dit welig tierende micro-organisme, boort een onuitputtelijke energievoorraad aan. Het bedrijf Proces-Groningen is daar dichtbij. Maar naarmate het doel meer in zicht komt, groeit de twijfel. “…. Al die stappen zijn "vreselijk moeilijk", weet Banning na vier maanden experimenteren… Persoonlijk geloof ik dan ook niet in algen als de nieuwe groene biobrandstof."

30. www.algae.wur.nl