Solix Biofuels Begins Large-Scale Production of Algal Oil
24 July 2009
Solix Biofuels has completed the construction of and begun algal oil production at its Coyote Gulch Demonstration Facility. The Coyote Gulch Demonstration Facility is expected to be producing the equivalent of 3,000 gal·ac-1·yr-1 (11,000 L·ac-1·yr-1) of algal oil by late 2009.
Solix uses a photobioreactor technology that houses closed-growth chambers that support the monoculture growth of microalgae in commercial application. It is designed to be species agnostic, enabling producers to optimize yields regardless of the algal strains used and climatic conditions encountered.
Made of material specifically designed to facilitate optimum illumination levels, the chamber design of the Solix AGS Technology allows for five-times the surface level exposure to sunlight compared with open-pond systems, according to Solix. Controlled turbulence within the chamber circulates the algae to maximize time within the relevant field of photosynthetic activity, leading to higher yields of algae growth.
At team of researchers from Solix Biofuels, Colorado State University and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory earlier published a paper calculating both an absolute upper limit to solar-based algal oil production as well as a feasible target range for production based on realistic efficiencies (calculated for six global sites).
Based on physical laws and assumptions of perfect efficiencies, the team calculated the theoretical limit to be 38,000 gal·ac-1·yr-1 of unrefined oil with an uncertainty of roughly 10% and with 50% cell oil content. Limits for the practical cases examined in their report ranged from 4,900 to 6,500 gal·ac-1·yr-1 of unrefined oil. (Earlier post.)
During the peak growth season, microalgae at the Coyote Gulch Facility can be harvested every 5-7 days. The total facility is located on a two-acre site in southwestern Colorado, on land provided by Solix’s partner, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, and is fully integrated with an industrial plant producing CO2 and water as waste products.
Solix has plans to expand to more acres of production at the Coyote Gulch location in the near future.
In June, Solix completed its $16.8 million Series A funding with the addition of the international investment group, Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd. (SAIL). (Earlier post.)
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Fantastic! My 30 year old VW diesel pickup, which gets better fuel economy than today's hybrids, is ready for algae based biodiesel!
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Posted by: The Goracle | 24 July 2009 at 06:02 PM
Uhhh I'm sorry...a two acre site producing 5,000 to 13,000 gallons (practical production) per year of unrefined oil is NOT "large scale" but its great anyway...hope they can get "super gigantic monsterous" scale soon.
Posted by: ejj | 24 July 2009 at 06:20 PM
ejj:
you forget, the people in Solix may be very little people.
Posted by: sulleny | 24 July 2009 at 06:48 PM
Hopefully the competition with VenterExxonMobil will lead to true large-scale production too...
Posted by: ejj | 24 July 2009 at 07:18 PM
"..the Southern Ute Indian Tribe.."
Wouldn't it be something if the native Americans without gaming resorts became the OPEC of algae oil?
All the bad land that they were given under treaty would become our next source of renewable fuels. Most excellent!
Posted by: SJC | 24 July 2009 at 07:58 PM
People forget that there are hungry people in the US not to even consider that far more exist elsewhere. It is very unlikely that the algal oils are not edible or cannot easily be made into edible products. This operation does not eliminate the food fuel debate, but if it is at all financially successful, it will eliminate the bio-ethanol foolishness.
Finances??? Not a word about the cost. You can make solar cells that have %40 efficiency; The electricity will cost $5.00 per kilowatt hour or more.
No one please promote any kind of solar energy without buying and operating such a system without any special laws or subsidies not available to those who build coal-fired power plants or even nuclear power plants.
Nuclear power plants have anti-subsidies. their customers have paid for decades for adequately safe nuclear materials storage but are told by most politicians, "Deep in Yucca mountain is not safe, but modified concrete pipes on the surface are safe enough." What most do not know is that there already exists a US permanent storage facility for any type of radio-active material. This unit is in operation and has been permitted by all reviews and has survived every court test. It must be considered excesively over expensive as long as people are allowed to ride motorcyles or grow tobacco.
This unit does not store commercial power plant wastes only because it was not funded for that purpose, but it does store military nuclear reactor wastes of all types. It could just be expanded or duplicated nearby for any material. It is far more than safe enough, but, just as many people object to changing religions, people just say it is still too dangerous and ride away on their motorcycle smoking a cigarette.
Somewhere all the time, there must be a fuel burning generator ready to supply power that a windless turbine is not producing. All hydropower is already used and batteries more than double the cost of the electricity. The cost of the unit and the CO2 release must be added to any statements about the CO2 release of wind turbines and also solar cells.
Solar energy in any form is not renewable especially wind. If the windy area is used up it can't be used again. If solar land is used, the solar cells on it cannot be covered with others. There is much land so people like to make estimates. The Atlantic once had many codfish hardly any commercial fishing is now allowed.
This oil facility is destroying the ecology of this land far more than a nuclear power plant of equal output would be doing. Plug in electric hybrids are part of the fuel answer the other part is fuel produced by nuclear reactors.
Energy, in the form of hydrogen at an existing nuclear reactor, produced by simple electrolysis is cheaper than oil at $150. This hydrogen can be made into gasoline by two existing operating processes or more if combined with the illegal and immoral substance CO2 from any source. This gasoline would be still cheaper than $150 oil gasoline. It would be five times as efficient to just use the electricity in and electric car.
The ZEBRA battery made long distance electric cars, trucks and busses possible over ten years ago, and if a fraction of the money spent on solar cells and solar enrgey of any kind had been spent on automating ZEBRA battery production they would have been sufficiently cost effective.
In no case should such a vehicle be sold without a tiny gasoline powered range extender. The engine-generator of the HONDA 1000i is adequate. The major reason for having such a unit is to stop any talk about the limited range of electric cars. Most cars would not use it most days and some would never use it for the life of the car.
Biofuels are too expensive. Present Solar fuel and electricity is too expensive. Solar heat can be used for house and water heating to advantage where fuel is very expensive. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 25 July 2009 at 12:22 AM
I would also like to see this technology developed to the point where production & refining can be set up in places like Afghanistan. Wouldn't it make sense to try and develop their economy in a MEANINGFUL way instead of having our troops over there fighting thugs that have nothing better to do with their lives except resort to opium production & taliban/al-qaeda activities? We know the American Indian tribes have plenty of "bad"lands...looks like there are plenty in Afghanistan also.
Posted by: ejj | 25 July 2009 at 06:45 AM
Looks like algae farming may repeat the same story as coffee. Coffee used to be relatively lucrative, so many poor countries were stimulated to cultivate them on a large scale to pay for their development. The resulting overproduction caused the price of coffee on the commodity market to collapse.
Once the technology is developed enough, and algae oil is competitive with (peak oil)-crude prices, there will (hopefuly) be mass-investments in algae farming...
There are more than enough badlands in the world.
Posted by: Alain | 27 July 2009 at 01:37 AM
The governments wanted farmers in Columbia to grow pineapples instead of coca trees. Coca was MUCH more profitable than pineapples. Opium poppies are MUCH more profitable than other crops in Afghanistan. It is odd that we promote capitalist profit maximizing and then expect everyone else to do otherwise.
Posted by: SJC | 27 July 2009 at 10:12 AM