I believe there will be a really large market for an algae-based "Biochar". See www.biochar-international.org for the several rationales given by IBI for land-based Biochar.
Biochar combines an energy aspect (not always fuels), CO2 sequestration, and soil improvement - all approximately equally valued. There is a growing understanding how Biochar fits with augmented forestry (REDD plus plus), but almost no mention anywhere of a fit with algae.
Land-based algae can be important to Biochar because of the higher biomass productivity per unit land area (solar conversion efficiency). Also Biochar production facilities will be decentralized and can supply CO2 in manageable quantities to algae farms. I am hopeful that algae systems near oceans can economically supply a product that will help reverse ocean acidification - a problem at least as large as rising global temperatures. Almost no-one is working on that (non-fuel product) problem.
There is a lot more to explore. I'm surprised that I can barely find the words "algae" and "Biochar" linked. I predict they will go well together - for the benefit of each. Fuels can and and will be a big part of the many Biochar operations employing pyrolysis. However, there is an alternative non-fuel approach that may be just as good for algae - called HTC (hydrothermal carbonization). See the IBI site for some on that as well.
To repeat, the non-fuel aspects of Biochar are CO2 sequestration and soil improvement - and the latter can continue for millennia (unlike deep underground placement of liquid CO2, or simply burying logs). Anyone agree that Biochar is an overlooked option for algae research?

In recent years microalgae came into intense focus as an interesting alternative substrate for various (bio)-industrial applications. A wide range of different algae fresh- and salt-water strains is nowadays used for the production of organic products such as carotenoids or fatty acids. As a plant-type biomass product, which is transforming CO2 via sun light energy into carbohydrates without the use of arable land masses, it is also highly considered as an alternative substrate for clean bio- energy production, thus replacing traditional crop plants. However, the technique for powerful algae cultivation and the efficiency of transferring sun light energy into biomass are still in a stage of infancy. Highly efficient algae production systems require both, new algae production systems as well as highly efficient and fast growing algae cultures under phototrophic outdoor conditions. Current cultivation suffers from rather inefficient photon conversion efficiency rates during phototrophic growth due to waste of sun light energy as temperature and fluorescence. Consequently, new algae strains need to be isolated or developed with higher growth rates (PCE rates of 5 and higher) and better adaptation behavior to varying outdoor conditions.
Such an approach needs the selection of strains which are suitable for biochemical and molecular biology approaches. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a fresh water microalga that has been used to study photosynthesis for decades. Since the genome of C. reinhardttii is fully sequenced and annotated, this organism became a very popular experimental system for molecular studies. In addition, extensive EST databases are available, a new full genome AGILENT-cDNA-chip has been produced in our lab and powerful miRNA technologies are established for targeted down- regulation of nuclear encoded genes. Furthermore, -omics technologies are fully established and all three genomes can be manipulated, thus allowing the genetic



improvement of this organism. C. reinhardtii is in addition a very good producer of gaseous fuels such as hydrogen and methane and a suitable production factory for proteins and antibodies, thus making it an interesting candidate for future bio-refinery concepts. Within this project we target the following aspects:

I think a scenerio for any PBR will very the cost. If you produce from wastewater you have no Media production cost. The unit would set on acreage already owned by the wastewater company.

@ Roopi: Yes, there are a few emerging areas where algae could be find unique applications. Example of such areas is algae plastics (you might have heard of Cereplast, for instance).

I will ask some of my colleagues who had done a good amount of work on non-fuel products from algae to perhaps submit their thoughts to this forum. They might be able to answer your question better.

All the best!

Hello, I wanted to ask has Oilgae looked at any other compounds that can be produced using microalgae? If so how hard or easy might it be to approach this idea? I'm working on a grant proposal, its just a mock trial to prepare us for further ones.

Well, if one is looking for large markets, animal feed and fertilizer come to mind.

On the other hand, if you are looking for markets with very attractive premiums, perhaps you should look at asthaxanthin kind of stuff that sells for thousands of $ per Kg.

The best bet could be nutraceuticals, which have both a decent price point (about $150 per Kg in the case of spirulina) and a reasonably large market, one which could only grow with larger sections of the world's populations keen on a more healthy diet.

Carbon credits, as Jacintha stated below, have the potential to become the most valued currency in the world. That makes it a major non-fuel asset potential for the algae industry and we shouldn't fail to explore its possibilities.

As carbon credits develop, it could prove to be a major selling point for investors and politics/government, whom we all know have the ability (should they be persuaded) to pave the way for expansion and development of the thousands of products and applications available in the algae industry.

Greetings
I agree with Natalia, lets no deviate from the subject to much,
And could it mean that if we product more food algae with a smaller energy requirement that traditional agriculture then by default we are reducing the need for fossil fuel consumption.
Also those who have made fuel out of micro algae you become painfully aware what the type of oils/fat’s are in the algae – and they are the highest value oils/fat and in the world not the lowest which is fuel.
My opinion is, it ( algae) need to go into the consumption end be it animals or human but not burned at a fuel in our cars and truck and planes.
Look at were our currant omega 3 come from “ the sea and fish” and what is the real cost of decimating a fish stocks for the oils/fats and meal !!
We need in intercept that loop and drive algae into the food chain directly not indirectly with accumulators. Let give them ( the seas )a rest and ramp algae production to fill the void – I red a article the other day saying that in the global fish food market it started with using 10 % of world fish stock to make fish food now it is over 50% of global fish stock are going into fish food production. And I guest you no why we need fish for fish food – Algae oils and meal !!!!!!! and that industry is looking for the next source of Oil/fat and meal –
Algae Bill

How Economically Viable is Algae?

Does it need Non Renewable Minerals to process it?

While I am a total newbie to this, I see potential, and I am quite interested.

And from this, I see an economy for people like myself sprouting soon. If you think you can grow your own oil/hydrogen/money/etc. in your backyard, you would start investing in such things.

I see potential

We keep digressing from the topic too often. Let us discuss Non fuel products. What are all the various products. which are technically viable and financial profitable and which yield remnant biomass to go for biofuel ?

@ Erika

If the world bank is allowed to become serious about its initiative on environmental destruction and puts a price on it, carbon and carbon credits will become the most valued currency the world will be dealing with. Not dollars and Euros.

I have a 6 hectare farm on the sea shore in the Philippines and am interested in someone who has knowledge/experience to partner with me on growing algae in sea water on shore tanks or in te sea proper. Anyone interested?

Yes, I suppose that is good and where I live in the Philippines there is an existing market for non fuel algae. I am trying to figure the best way to grow it. I live on the sea shore so I am interested in learning how to best grow it in sea water.

Yes, algae for feed is really a promising field...I have been working on this and giving the healthiest food on earth(spirulina) to lot of poor and orphan children..Even commercially this is a highly viable option...

Interesting story Algae Bill.


Wish you could reveal more about the product, the type of algae, the price, the market etc without revealing the name of the company and its owners.

Dietary supplement (health-supporting food with microalgae)
Bread, noodles
Bread rolls
Waffles, rusk, biscuits
Yoghurt
Raw material delivery for pasta
Snacks, muesli bolt
Beer
--------------
How does algae find a way into all these ?
What are the benefits of adding algae in all the above?

Which algae is used ?

An edited version of Andres Abrahams post earlier here in this club is given below. It outlines the no of products AA's company is looking at as co products.

We need to get lot more specific.

" Simultaneously with our modest entrance into algae production we will still have the aim to gradually enlarge our product range and to co-operate on a national , as well as international level.
Food supplement means / functional food
Feed additions
Cosmetics / wellness.
Living feed production
pure biomass production
hydrogen production

Participation with the network ?Angewandte Bioproduktion Lausitz? (Applied bio production Lausitz) will result in finding other producers and in connection with this task even create some new products.

Dietary supplement (health-supporting food with microalgae)
Bread, noodles
Bread rolls
Waffles, rusk, biscuits
Yoghurt
Raw material delivery for pasta
Snacks, muesli bolt
Beer

Special feed with microalgae (feed additions)
special feed mixture for chick and young hens
special feed mixture for drawer
special feed mixture for maturing fish
special feed mixture for domestic animals (pet-food)
special feed mixture for koi carp and other special directions
high carotinoid mixture for certain zoo animals

Cosmetics / wellness

The concrete regional and national problem definitions for it are being discussed and compiled by the members of the network of ?Applied bioproduction Lausitz? in their teams:

1. production of microalgae in photo biology reactors and their deployment

2. deployment of microalgae in the food and cosmetic industry

Application tests in medical equipment with microalgae
flushing tests of mercury (amalgam) with Chlorella vulgaris
application tests with Spirulina platensis to patient (immune weakness) for the rise of the immune defence.
AA"

@ Dade and @ Algae Bill

Looks like one key usage of algae will be health and be it mankind, animals or fish.

Lot of research is required in this field. As said by Algae Bill very soon a start up will come up with a project for
a. fish feed
b. animal feed
etc/.

If I remember, Andres Abraham posted a comment consisting of all the uses of algae. I will try to unearth and post it here as it is more relevant here.

We need to go to the next step of what species and what process and what cost for what end product.

After developing what co products can we be able to make bio mass or bio fuel ?
That is the question.

Finally, ofcourse we need to determine what will be the cost of biomass and or biofuel.

Greetings all,
And a quick note:
Feeding dogs and cats and other animals on algae.

I have a 13 year Rhodesian ridgeback – and six moths ago he was nearly dead the vet said his hips were giving him hell and he had rub sores all over his body and the vet said I should feed him some Glucosamine and Chondroitin and at 2 dollars a tablet I though my algae would be better – so I started feeding him my marine bluegreen – and you should see him now – the sores are gone and he thinks he is a kid !! cool
Algae Bill

Greetings all,

On this HVP line – I cannot but help to recite a brief story!!! Obviously names and companies will be fictional but the story the same.
I got a call a couple years back from a friend of a friend who was in the HVP industry – particularly in very, very HVP (Marine oil). This organisation was made up of some very smart people – great marketers, great engineers, great doctors and lots, lots of money – they had developed a market and developed a very impressive processing system ( with a very unstable HVP) so all was going well good supply of primary product, good processing and good extraction and the international market was getting good feed back, all good !!!

Then they hit a road hump and seriously good road hump, they had the opportunity to sell there HVP into a large chain of stores. Cool !!!!!!!

So they started looking at how they could upscale the availability of primary product and they hit a hitch, they unfortunately were competing with another end-user for there primary product so the price was going up!!!! And when they did the math – they would have to take a large percentage of the countries worth of primary product to for fill there market - !!!!! And that was not going to happen!!!!!!!

In stepped algae bill, we had a meeting and got into the whole discussion on accumulators and who actually makes the HVP – I should point out that they had created a multi million dollar business on the assumption the primary product made the HVP – but the reality was that “algae made the HVP product” and their primary product accumulated it. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I then showed a algae profile and it was better and had higher amounts of their HVP and I had grown it in my glass house – no farm no bad weather and fluctuating harvesting cost, transport and a huge work force, etc
Then the “penny dropped” !! And then I pointed out that they could culture all there product on site and not need the primary product ever again!!

They promptly pointed out that “they could never go to their board/investors with this bit of information” they would be out of a job!!!!
They had raised their money on there primary product and even had a branded name relating to that product – they were doomed to small supply of their HVP!!!!!!
And they could not and would not change!!!!
The end
The moral of the story is that we consume allot of these HVP but the great many do not no where they come from. And that need to change!!

Algae Bill

Animal Feed / Nutritional Supplements
as regulation is meek. The typical domestic pet consumes nearly $1,000.00 (each) dollars worth of food every year.
I bet one of these start ups will start feeding dogs and cats Algae soon - if not selling raw product to production mills as mix/filler.

I agree with Algae Bill, algae's value on a broad scale makes an unbeatable sales pitch... carbon credits, wastewater/CO2 remediation, the enormous variety of high value products, BIOFUEL (of course), and the waste biomass for fertilizer. No wonder we are all fanatics, it seems like a no-brainer. For people to embrace algae as an economic and environmental solution they need to see algae as we all do, for its versatility and the revolutionary concept of creating a (potentially) carbon-negative and renewable energy industry. Eventually the economics will be undeniable (especially with the World Bank's initiative to account for economical impacts of environmental destruction) and I believe will offset the costs of production currently preventing algae from being an affordable biofuel replacement.

Greetings All,

Another good subject to be discussed, debated and generally torn to sheds – but all the name of Algae. This process need to be done to get the best holistic /collective view of this industry/movement – I like moment as apposed to industry – to be in the Algae movement you have to be exceptionally driven, fixated, resilient and even eccentric, when working in the space, that the general populace consciences is that we are working with “pond scum” !!! I so hate that Term – Pond Scum, so are the people that eat algae, “bottom dwellers”, ( please note I eat heaps of Pond Scum) every day ( and what better it is MY pond scum that I have nurtured, fed and loved and then eaten.

So to add to the debate – we need to make money, plan and simple, as we better understand our charge (alage)and if we can get cash flow from selling High Vale Product’s (HVP) – then that is good and will keep food on the table.

I personally think we all ( which I personally do) work to circulating the Benefits of Micro Algae not just the hype like, ”Toxic algae Boom Kills dogs on local beach” all you need to do is have a algae Google search and see this day in and day out.

And we all should be promoting all it beneficial aspects, how many living organisms provide such invaluable service to us (waste remediation) and also such a vast amount of valuable compounds. We live in a world that thinks that essential fatty acids (omega 3) plus a whole pile of other cool compounds get produced by fish, and other accumulators.

In short HVP is essential for us in our business !!!!

Algae Bill

I am reminded of the now famous or is t not so famous blog by Andres Abhraham :-)

" At times like this i sit down thinking,- "why are you doing this!?" Why do I write articels that no one seems to read, - and if, wy is no one willing to learn from whats being said or written. Most of the participants here seem to just copy all the news about algae that they can get hold of and than present this proudly to a exitet audience. Several times I have tried to point out that there is nothing realy new going on. Still all of the new upsprings are turning a big wheel claiming unbelievable developments - and are in reality far, far from any comercial production. My very first articel here in the Oilgae Club - if you please would spend some time and read it,it bears the title "Is it a hype?! and subtitle: "The algae industry is starting from the top".
Good reasons to think this whole thing over before starting something unpredictable.
But coming to the point, - you should try to discuss things to the end, meaning you should come to some conclusion instead of jumping on to the next item. Dont they teach that anymore at the universities? And dont give me now that argument that things are all in a change and no one will be able to predict in what direction science will bring us. off course thats the case, but you still got to have a clear strategy to go after and a clear and defined goal. If you than still have your plan B - than you are realy good at it!
AA "

Right now it looks like

a. co products first and fuel first than

b. food first fuel next

In other words the survival of an algae biofuel project needs cash to come in to keep trying in commercialising whatever has been accomplished in the lab/ pilot.

Cash is required. Co products looks like an immediate solution.
Such a cash keeps the hope alive.

If Andres and others feel differently let us know.

We hardly had time to discuss the last week's problem of cost of PBR or low cost of PBR.

The discussion turned out to be
" viability of PBR or Profitability of PBR"

It was interesting and it wasnt leading to any conclusion as Andres Abrham asks " dont they teach the students to reach a logical conclusion in the univs anymore"
Actually out of the univ, we still seem to be discussing the viability of a PBR OR for that matter the topic could have been
" why make cheap PBRs if you can make so much money out of it "