Advancing sustainable production
of microalgal biofuels
Abigail Adebusuyi, PhD
Outline
Alternative energy
 Why microalgae biofuels
 Challenges to sustainable production of microalgal
biofuels
 Pollutants-to-Products microalgae research

2
Alternative energy
Non-fossil energy sources that have no negative
effect on the environment
 Mostly renewable

www.e-education.psu.edu
3
Biofuels
Fuel obtained directly or
indirectly from biological
processes
 Renewable if from plants or
microalgae biomass obtained
using natural resources e.g.
sunlight


Additional benefit of carbon
capture
beaconenergynews.ca
4
Why microalgae biofuels?
Sun
O2
precisionphysique.com
www.superorganicfoods.com
www.bioenergyconsult.com
Biofuels
Biodiesel
Ethanol
Gasoline
Kerosene
Other products
CO2 source
5
Challenges to sustainable production of
microalgal biofuels

No one has been able to produce enough
microalgae biomass using sunlight at low-cost

Inefficient sunlight energy conversion

Low productivity


High capital cost
silentcenter.deviantart.com
Cost of biofuels is high

Estimated biodiesel cost is $1.6 - >$75/L
news.thomasnet.com
6
Pollutants-to-Products (P2P) Microalgae project

Development of innovative
technologies to increase
microalgae biomass
productivity at low-cost
7
P2P’s Sun-tracking Photo-bioreactor (PBR)



Patent-pending
technology “Active
Spatial Sunlight
DilutionTM”
(PCT/CA2014/050450)
Increased sunlight
utilization efficiency
Increased biomass
productivity
P2P’s Algi-ALPHA PBR
8
Nutrient medium formulation
P2P’s Nutrient media
Common C. vulgaris nutrient media
9
Current work

Development of a pilot-scale
PBR based on P2P’s patentpending technology

Water and nutrient recycling

Efficient microalgae harvester

Open to collaborations and
new partnerships to
commercialize P2P’s
technologies
10
Summary
Sun
O2
Biofuels
Biodiesel
Ethanol
Gasoline
Kerosene
www.superorganicfoods.com
CO2 source
Recycle
nutrients &
water
Other products
Animal feeds
Health supplements
Cosmetics
Pharmaceuticals
11
Acknowledgements
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