Victor Lin – professor of chemistry, director of the Institute for Physical Research and Technology's Center for Catalysis at Iowa State and chief technologist and founder of Catilin Inc. – will lead a team embarking on a $5.3 million study of biodiesel production from algae.

And Robert C. Brown – an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering, the Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering and the Iowa Farm Bureau director of the Bioeconomy Institute – will lead a $2.7 million study of the thermochemical and catalytic conversion of biomass to fuels.

"These grants to Iowa State University researchers demonstrate the breadth and strength of our programs in advanced biofuels," said Sharron Quisenberry, Iowa State's vice president for research and economic development. "We have researchers who can help this national effort to develop clean, sustainable and cost-effective sources of energy. These grants are two more examples of how Iowa State translates discoveries into viable technologies and products that strengthen the economies of Iowa and the world."

The Iowa State research projects are part of a Department of Energy effort supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The program creates two national research groups charged with finding ways to break down barriers to the commercialization of advanced biofuels (such as green gasoline) while using the existing fuel marketing and transportation infrastructure:

– $44 million (plus $11 million in non-federal, cost-share funding) creates the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Mo.

– And $34 million (plus $8.4 million in non-federal, cost-share funding) creates the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash.

Lin's research team is part of the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts. It includes researchers at Catilin Inc., a catalyst technology company that Lin founded in 2007 with the help of Mohr Davidow Ventures of Menlo Park, Calif.

The researchers will study how silica nanoparticles developed by Lin – and produced by Ames-based Catilin Inc. – can be used to selectively extract and sequester fuel-related, high-value compounds from a mixture containing lipids from algae. The rest of the algal oil will be converted to biodiesel using Catilin's commercially available T300 catalyst.

"Our technology is instrumental in several key steps of the algae-to-biofuels supply chain as the efficient oil-extraction and solid catalyst provides a cost effective conversion route," Lin said.

Brown's research team is part of the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium. It includes Brent Shanks, the director of the Center for Biorenewable Chemicals based at Iowa State and professor of chemical and biological engineering; James Dumesic, Steenbock Professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Linda Broadbelt, professor and chair of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

The researchers will investigate the chemical reactions of fast pyrolysis (a process that uses heat in the absence of oxygen to decompose biomass into a liquid bio-oil). They'll also study the catalytic upgrading of bio-oil to transportation fuels.

"The Department of Energy organized these consortia for the purpose of accelerating the development of advanced biofuels through a coordinated research program among biofuels researchers across the United States," said Brown. "We are pleased that the Bioeconomy Institute was selected to be part of this national effort."

The national research effort is aimed at building a domestic bio-industry, creating jobs and reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil, according to Steven Chu, the U.S. secretary of energy.

"Advanced biofuels are crucial to building a clean energy economy," Chu said. "By harnessing the power of science and technology, we can bring new biofuels to market and develop a cleaner and more sustainable transportation sector."

The bulk of the funding, coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, went to algae research and development, while the rest went toward improving the country's ethanol infrastructure.

About $44 million went to the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB), an organization led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. The research institute, which hosts the plant science labs of several universities, is coordinating the efforts of private, academic, and public organizations trying to commercialize algae-based biofuels. The money will go toward efforts to move algae biomass production from the research and development stage to commercialization, and create infrastructure to support an algae biofuel economy in the U.S. The NAABB is also developing ideas for efficiently turning algae production byproducts into "co-products" like animal feed, and industrial feedstocks, according to the Department of Energy.

Another $38 million went to the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium. That group is tasked with developing a "cost effective" and "pilot-ready process" for using the United States' existing fossil fuel refineries and distribution facilities to refine and distribute biofuels.

In addition to those two big projects, which will be given an additional $19 million in funds from the private sector, Chu also announced funding for smaller state projects.

A total of about $1.6 million in funding is being distributed to participating states to install or retrofit more than 60 gas stations with E85 and other ethanol blend fuel pumps. The project has also been given $3.9 million in private and state funding. The states participating in the project include Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. As part of the states' proposal guidelines, the pumps will be installed near central arteries and in areas with a high concentration of flexible fuel car owners as residents.

While $80 million might sound like a lot to invest in algae and fuel pumps, it's actually quite modest for the DOE. In comparison, the DOE distributed $620 million in funding for smart-grid projects in November 2009.

Algae are among the fastest growing plants in the world, and about 50 percent of their weight is oil. That lipid oil can be used to make biodiesel for cars, trucks, and possibly even jet fuel for airplanes. One of the great things about using algae is that it's not used as food so it's easy to avoid the spiking of cost as demand increases. In the past we've seen rising prices with corn based ethanol or soy bean based biodiesel as demand soared. Other benefits of using algae as a source of renewable energy is the fact that it doesn't require clean water like farm crops, and in some cases doesn't even need fresh water. Additionally, algae are nearly CO2 neutral as it is extremely efficient at turning the CO2 in the air into algae oil during the photosynthesis process. Oil extraction from algae is currently a hotly debated topic because this process is one of the more costly processes which can determine the sustainability of algae-based biodiesel; with our application we are able to cut costs.

In terms of the concept, the idea is quite simple: Harvest the algae from its growth medium (using an appropriate separation process), and extract the oil out of it. Extraction can be broadly categorized into mechanical methods as well as chemical methods. The most efficient method is cavitation based extraction. By utilizing CTI's cavitation reactor, the extraction processes can be greatly accelerated. CTI's Nano reactor is used to create cavitation bubbles in a solvent material, when these bubbles collapse near the cell walls it creates shock waves and liquid jets that cause those cells walls to break and release their contents into the solvent.

Algae is often referred to as the "Ultimate" renewable energy source, we are excited to offer a technology that refines and accelerates the process considerably. Cavitation Technologies, Inc prides itself on creating solutions and applications in industries where there are significant environmental issues and/or there is a need to reduce costs and improve profitability. CTI is looking to license our technologies to qualified companies and individuals, if you would like to learn more about the opportunity please contact us at: info@cavitationtechnologies.com

Microalgae are monocellular, plant-like organisms engaged in photosynthesis and converting carbon dioxide (CO₂) into biomass. From this biomass, both potential resources and active substances as well as fuels like biodiesel may be produced. While growing, algae take up the amount of CO₂ that is later released again when they are used for energy production. Hence, energy from algae can be produced in a CO₂-neutral manner contrary to conventional energy carriers.

Apart from CO₂-neutral closed loop management, algae have an-other advantage: Industrial CO₂ emissions may be used as a "re-source", as algae grow faster at high carbon dioxide concentrations and, hence, produce more biomass for energy production.

However, this is not their only advantage: "Compared to land plants, algae produce five times as much biomass per hectare and contain 30 to 40% oil usable for energy production", says Professor Cle-mens Posten, who directs this research activity at the KIT Institute of Life Science Engineering. As the algae may also be cultivated in arid i.e. dry, areas not suited for agriculture, there is hardly any competition with agricultural areas. There, however, closed systems are required.

Presently, algae are being produced in open ponds in southern countries of relatively small productivity. This is where Posten's new technology starts. "In terms of process technology, our approach is completely different, as we are working with closed photobioreactors", underlines the scientist. "Our plants convert solar energy into biomass, the efficiency being five times higher than that in open ponds." The plates in usual photo-bioreactors are arranged verti-cally. "Every alga sees a little bit less light, but the plant is operated at increased efficiency", emphasizes the biologist and electrical engineer. Modern designs under investigation will find more intelligent ways to light distribution.

Consequently, algae production does not only work in countries with an extremely high solar irradiation. Most algae need a maximum of ten percent of the incident sunlight intensity. According to Posten, the remaining fraction would just be wasted, if light management in the photobioreactor would not be optimum. Posten points out that the Sahara offers just twice as much sun as Central Europe. But there, the reactor contents would have to be cooled. Other advantages of the closed system are drastic savings of water and fertilizers. Double use of algae for the production of food or fine chemicals and subsequent energy production from the residualbiomass may also be conceivable.

Posten's institute hosts one of the two KIT working groups focusing on research in the field of algae biotechnology. "As far as the development of photobioreactors is concerned, we are among the three locations worldwide, where considerable progress is being achieved in both process technology and biology", explains Posten.

The stop of his research area on the southern KIT campus marks the starting point of research conducted by the Institute for Pulsed Power and Microwave Technology on the northern campus of the KIT. Here, it is focused on extracting the valuable constituents of the algae biomass by an electric pulsed treatment. So far, Dr. Georg Müller, head of this institute's Pulsed Power Technology Division, has studied the decomposition of plant cells of olives, grapes, apples, sugar beets, and terrestrial energy plants in cooperation with partners from research and industry. Partly, large-scale facilities were constructed. "It is our objective to develop new economically efficient and sustainable extraction methods to obtain a maximum amount of cell constituents from the algae that can be used for energy production", says Müller. "The plant cells are exposed to a high electric field for a very short term. This causes a perforation of the cell membrane and the constituents are released."

Cooperation of both working groups now aims at bundling the existing know-how, with starting funds being provided by the KIT Energy Center. It is planned to establish a KIT "Algae Platform" for energy production from microalgae. In the medium term, pilot-scale and demonstration plants shall be built on the northern KIT campus, with the favorable conditions in terms of space and infrastructure being made use of. "This will represent a major node in the presently rather rapid networking of algae biotechnology", emphasizes Posten. To make energy production from algae economically efficient, it will be focused on minimizing investment and operation costs of photobioreactors and on developing highly efficient processes for the harvesting and decomposition of algae.

To close the cycle for the complete use of algae biomass for energy production, KIT researchers even go another step forwards. The biomass remaining after extraction (60 - 70%) is planned to be con-verted into other energy carriers like hydrogen or methane by means of the hydrothermal gasification process developed on the northern campus.

"Algae is the ultimate in renewable energy," Glen Kertz, president and CEO of Valcent Products, told CNN while conducting a tour of his algae greenhouse on the outskirts of El Paso.

Kertz, a plant physiologist and entrepreneur, holds about 20 patents. And he is psyched about the potential algae holds, both as an energy source and as a way to deal with global warming.

"We are a giant solar collecting system. We get the bulk of our energy from the sunshine," said Kertz.

Algae are among the fastest growing plants in the world, and about 50 percent of their weight is oil. That lipid oil can be used to make biodiesel for cars, trucks, and airplanes.

Most people know algae as "pond scum." And until recently, most energy research and development projects used ponds to grow it.

But instead of ponds, Valcent uses a closed, vertical system, growing the algae in long rows of moving plastic bags. The patented system is called Vertigro, a joint venture with Canadian alternative energy company Global Green Solutions. The companies have invested about $5 million in the Texas facility.

"A pond has a limited amount of surface area for solar absorption," said Kertz.

"By going vertical, you can get a lot more surface area to expose cells to the sunlight. It keeps the algae hanging in the sunlight just long enough to pick up the solar energy they need to produce, to go through photosynthesis," he said.

Kertz said he can produce about 100,000 gallons of algae oil a year per acre, compared to about 30 gallons per acre from corn; 50 gallons from soybeans.

Using algae as an alternative fuel is not a new idea. The U.S. Department of Energy studied it for about 18 years, from 1978 to 1996. But according to Al Darzins of the DOE's National Renewable Energy Lab, in 1996 the feds decided that algae oil could never compete economically with fossil fuels.

The price of a barrel of oil in 1996? About 20 bucks!

Government scientists experimented with algae in open ponds in California, Hawaii, and in Roswell, New Mexico.

But that involved a lot of land area, with inherent problems of evaporation and contamination from other plant species and various flying and swimming critters. Darzins said NREL switched from algae research to focus on cellulosic ethanol. That's ethanol made from plants like switchgrass and plant stover -- the leaves and stalks left after a harvest -- but not edible crops such as corn and soybeans.

Valcent research scientist Aga Pinowska said there are about 65,000 known algae species, with perhaps hundreds of thousands more still to be identified.

A big part of the research at the west Texas facility involves determining what type of algae produces what type of fuel. One species may be best suited for jet fuel, while the oil content of another may be more efficient for truck diesel.

In the Vertigro lab, Pinowska studies the care and feeding of algae for just such specifics. She said even small changes in the nutrients that certain algae get can help create a more efficient oil content.

And she said a knowledge of algae's virtues goes way back.

"Even the Aztecs knew it was beneficial; they used it as a high protein food," said Pinowska.

The other common commercial use of algae today is as a health food drink, usually sold as "Spirulina."

I'm too sexy for my pond

And who knew that single celled plants could be such "hotties" when it comes to sex? Kertz said it's a real "algae orgy" under the microscope.

Some algae reproduce sexually, some asexually, while many combine both modes. In some green algae the type of reproduction may be altered if there are changes in environmental conditions, such as lack of moisture or nutrients.

Intriguing details like that keep Kertz and other scientists searching for more and different algae. While dusty west Texas may not be the best hunting grounds, he said he is always on the lookout for samples in puddles, streams or ponds.

Locating algae processing plants intelligently can add to their efficiency. Locating algae facilities next to carbon producing power plants, or manufacturing plants, for instance, the plants could sequester the C02 they create and use those emissions to help grow the algae, which need the C02 for photosynthesis.

And after more than a decade hiatus, the U.S. government is back in the algae game. The 2007 Energy Security and Independence Act includes language promoting the use of algae for biofuels. From the Pentagon to Minnesota to New Zealand, both governments and private companies are exploring the use of algae to produce fuel.

But Al Darzins of the National Renewable Energy Lab said the world is still probably 5 to 10 years away from any substantial use of biofuels.

"There's not any one system that anyone has chosen yet. Whatever it is has to be dirt, dirt cheap," said Darzins

The 16 big flasks of bubbling bright green liquids in Roger Ruan's lab at the University of Minnesota are part of a new boom in renewable energy research.

Driven by renewed investment as oil prices push $100 a barrel, Ruan and scores of scientists around the world are racing to turn algae into a commercially viable energy source.

Some varieties of algae are as much as 50 percent oil, and that oil can be converted into biodiesel or jet fuel. The biggest challenge is slashing the cost of production, which by one Defense Department estimate is running more than $20 a gallon.

"If you can get algae oils down below $2 a gallon, then you'll be where you need to be. And there's a lot of people who think you can," said Jennifer Holmgren, director of the renewable fuels unit of UOP LLC, an energy subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc.

Researchers are trying to figure out how to grow enough of the right strains of algae and how to extract the oil most efficiently. Over the past two years they've enjoyed an upsurge in funding from governments, the Pentagon, big oil companies, utilities and venture capital firms.

The federal government halted its main algae research program nearly a decade ago, but technology has advanced and oil prices have climbed since then, and an Energy Department lab announced in late October that it was partnering with Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, in the hunt for better strains of algae.

"It's not backyard inventors at this point at all," said George Douglas, a spokesman for the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "It's folks with experience to move it forward."

A New Zealand company demonstrated a Range Rover powered by an algae biodiesel blend last year, but experts say it will be many years before algae is commercially viable. Ruan expects some demonstration plants to be built within a few years.

Converting algae oil into biodiesel uses the same process that turns vegetable oils into biodiesel. But the cost of producing algae oil is hard to pin down because nobody's running the process start to finish other than in a laboratory, Douglas said. One Pentagon estimate puts it at more than $20 per gallon, but other experts say it's not clear cut.

If it can be brought down, algae's advantages include growing much faster and in less space than conventional energy crops. An acre of corn can produce about 20 gallons of oil per year, Ruan said, compared with a possible 15,000 gallons of oil per acre of algae.

An algae farm could be located almost anywhere. It wouldn't require converting cropland from food production to energy production. It could use sea water. And algae can gobble up pollutants from sewage and power plants.

The Pentagon's research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is funding research into producing jet fuel from plants, including algae. DARPA is already working with Honeywell's UOP, General Electric Inc. and the University of North Dakota. In November, it requested additional research proposals.

As the single largest energy consumer in the world, the Defense Department needs new, affordable sources of jet fuel, said Douglas Kirkpatrick, DARPA's biofuels program manager.

"Our definition of affordable is less than $5 per gallon, and what we're really looking for is less than $3 per gallon, and we believe that can be done," he said.

Des Plaines, Ill.-based UOP — which has developed a "green diesel" process that converts vegetable oils into fuels that are more like conventional petroleum products than standard biodiesel — already has successfully converted soybean oil into jet fuel, Holmgren said. And the company has partnered with Arizona State University to obtain algae oil to test for the DARPA project, she said.

At the University of Minnesota, Ruan and his colleagues are developing ways to grow mass quantities of algae, identifying promising strains and figuring out what they can make from the residue that remains after the oil is removed.

Because sunlight doesn't penetrate more than a few inches into water that's thick with algae, it doesn't grow well in deep tanks or open ponds. So researchers are designing systems called "photobioreactors" to provide the right mix of light and nutrients while keeping out wild algae strains.

Ruan's researchers grow their algae in sewage plant discharge because it contains phosphates and nitrates — chemicals that pollute rivers but can be fertilizer for algae farms. So Ruan envisions building algae farms next to treatment plants, where they could consume yet another pollutant, the carbon dioxide produced when sewage sludge is burned.

Jim Sears of A2BE Carbon Capture LLC, of Boulder, Colo., a startup company that's developing fuel-from-algae technologies that tap carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants, compared the challenges to achieving space flight.

"It's complex, it's difficult and it's going to take a lot of players," Sears said.