Memorandum submitted by Eco-Synthesis
Ltd
INTRODUCTION
Eco-Syntheseis Limited holds exclusive rights
to a second generation biofuel process which it is proposing to
trial in the UK with E.ON UK, Pilkington, and the University of
Southampton, amongst others.
This process which is a highly efficient patent
pending bioreactor process has the capability to mass produce
biodiesel from microalgae using CO2 emissions as a feedstock.
Microalgae is an ultra high yield organism which can double in
size in as little as two hours and can contain a high oil content
of to 50% of its biomass. With such growth capability, the potential
biofuel yield from microalgae per hectare is in the region of
seven million litres of biodiesel per annum. This yield per hectare
is 1,000 times the yield per hectare of palm oil which is considered
to be the most prolific traditional oil crop. Microalgae therefore
represents a second generation source of biofuel which is fully
sustainable.
Moreover microalgae can be grown in optimum
conditions in a glass bioreactor—a series of enclosed tanks—into
which CO2 emissions from power stations and other industrial emitters
can be pumped directly from their flues. The microalgae use this
captured CO2 very efficiently as a feedstock using photosynthesis
to convert the CO2 into O2 thus growing very quickly. This is
the big attraction for both E.ON Uk and Pilkington who both have
very big CO2 emissions and see this technology as being capable
of being used to capture these emissions and process them into
biofuel.
Our bioreactor technology has the capability
to use microalgae to capture 100,000 tonnes of CO2 pa using a
footprint of only 1.35 hectares producing 9mn litres of biodiesel
at a net cost of £0.25 per litre.
With these statistics microalgae represents
a highly sustainable source of biofuel as it has both a tremendously
high yield per acre and eliminates, in substantial amounts, CO2
that would otherwise be emitted by power stations and other industrial
emitters into the atmosphere.
Microalgae therefore has the capability to turn
on it's head the assumptions made in the May 2007 UK Biomass Strategy
Paper about an extra 350,000 hectares being needed to be brought
into biofuel production in the UK. It similarly could make a very
significant contribution to capturing CO2 emissions globally and
therefore provide a solution to capturing the emissions that the
Stern Report sets out are necessary to avoid the catastrophic
effects of climate change.
In these two key respects microalgae represents
an extremely sustainable biofuel.
This memorandum addresses some of the questions
asked by the Environmental Audit Committee in the context of developing
this technology to enable microalgae to be used as a sustainable
source of biofuel.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
RE MICROALGAE
BIOREACTOR TECHNOLOGY
TO PRODUCE
BIOFUEL
Eco-Synthesis Limited ("ESL") has
a new bioreactor technology to produce biomass & biodiesel
from microalgae using captured CO2 as a feedstock.
This bioreactor provides the capability to use
CO2 emissions from power plants or industry as a feedstock to
cultivate microalgae converting CO2 wastes into a high yield biomass
fuel. The biomass has a high oil content making it ideal for processing
for biodiesel or alternatively used for co-firing back into the
power plant. There are also anaerobic digestion processing options.
Certain strains of microalgae can double in
size within hours. Microalgae therefore represent the highest
yield biofuel crop, having the capability to produce millions
of litres of biodiesel per hectare per annum. This compares with
palm oil that can produce 5,950 litres per hectare.
Cultivating biodiesel from microalgae using
CO2 emissions as a feedstock is not a new concept, and many organisations
such as GreenFuel Technologies in the US have been successful
with small scale laboratory units. What none have been able to
do, however, is to scale up their technology without suffering
catastrophic failure. ESL's bioreactor, instead of the existing
approaches used, incorporates techniques that are proven in other
industries to accurately control the rate of growth of the microalgae
preventing this catastrophic failure. The design is also very
high yield having the capability to convert 275 tonnes of CO2
each day into biomass on a process footprint of just 1.35 ha.
The resultant biomass can be processed to produce 26,000 litres
of biodiesel per day at a competitive cost of £0.25 per litre.
The biggest drivers towards the adoption of
this technology are legislative with the UK and EEU requiring
CO2 emissions to be reduced 60% by 2050, and separately, increased
renewable energy and biofuel production targets are required to
be met by 2010 through 2020. There are also environmental and
sustainability drivers, with security of energy supply also being
highly beneficial.
These drivers, the attraction of the economics,
and the big reward of using this technology to significantly reduce
carbon emissions has brought a team consisting of; E.ON and Pilkington
who are both big CO2 emitters; Double H Nurseries, a large horticulture
operation producing pure CO2 in their operations; Eco-Solids International
("ESI"), a company with exclusive rights to a highly
efficient oil extraction technology which enhances the economics
of producing biodiesel; and the University of Southampton ("UoS")
who have considerable microalgae and chemical engineering expertise
together to trial the technology with ESL. Southampton have already
assessed the design of the technology and have confirmed it's
likely capability. In addition the team has reached the final
stage of a collaborative research competition funded by the UK
Government through the Technology Strategy Board for the provision
of up to £1.5mn towards the costs of the project.
TO ANSWER
SELECTIVE QUESTIONS
RAISED BY
THE ENVIRONMENTAL
AUDIT COMMITTEE
1. What are the possible positive and negative
social, environmental and economic consequences of biofuels? How
might trade-offs between climate benefits and environmental and
social impacts be made? Is there a need to develop a new biofuel
strategy for the UK or EU, to balance the environmental, social,
economic and climate impacts of biofuels?
To answer in the context of using microalgae
as a sustainable biofuel.
Carbon Capture
The UK May 07 Energy White Paper set out that
Power Stations and Industry contributed 51% of UK CO2 emissions—roughly
78 MtC pa. The UK & EU is proposing to reduce emissions 60%
by 2050. The big CO2 reduction reward for our partners, E.ON and
Pilkington, by engaging with the development of this technology,
can be replicated across big industrial emitters like cement manufacturers
and other power generators. E.ON have designed a new Biomass Power
Plant to be built at Sheffield at which they would wish to establish
a commercial facility if this project succeeds. Pilkington have
identified their main glass furnaces as potential sites. LaFarge
and RWE Npower, to provide further examples, are also interested
in algae, with RWE proposing a potential target of reducing emissions
by 10% by using algae. If algae were used to capture 10% of power
emissions across these sectors, which is entirely conceivable
in the medium term, then this would reduce emissions by 7.8 MtC
pa. Large emitters like power stations and cement manufacturers
are typically in remote areas and would have sufficient land for
the bioreactors. They will however only engage carbon reduction
technologies if these are economically viable and more efficient
than the competition. With our bioreactors having the capability
to capture carbon and produce biodiesel at a cost of no more than
£0.25 per litre, then this will be so.
Making Coal Fired Power Generation Environmentally
Acceptable
Globally coal consumption is c.5.3bn tonnes
pa, of which c. 75% is used for power generation—source
BP. The market potential for a high yield product to clean up
coal fired power generation by integrating captured carbon and
a biomass fuel is thus huge. Both China and India are becoming
increasingly aware of the environmental impact of embracing coal
fired power generation so fully and will provide extensive markets
for our technology.
Microalgae compares favourably with traditional Biofuels
High Yield Microalgae bioreactor technology
can produce millions of litres of biodiesel per hectare pa compared
with palm oil which produces 5950 litres pa. Some strains of microalgae
double in size every few hours and contain a high oil content
of 50% or more. This compares with more traditional biofuel crops
which can only be harvested once or twice a year.
The attraction of investing in microalgae to
produce biodiesel is that it is likely to be the only viable method
to produce enough automotive fuel to replace current world petroleum
and diesel usage.
Alternative crops that are currently being used
for producing biodiesel are not economically and environmentally
sustainable as they require too much farmland to produce the volumes
of biodiesel required. There is also a very real risk that food
shortages will occur where too much food crop farm land is lost
to cultivating crops to produce biodiesel and ethanol.
The prolific high yields that can be obtained
and the high volumes of CO2 absorbed per hectare per day enable
microalgae to be used to reduce CO2 emissions in place of other
carbon capture and storage solutions under consideration which
cannot be justified in economic terms. Other fuel crops absorb
considerably less CO2 per hectare.
Environmental Capability in the Context of the Stern
Report
The Stern Report refers to the potential UK
cost of climate change if there is no carbon abatement. If emissions
are unabated, global temperatures will rise by 2-3°C within
the next fifty years or so and possibly 5-6°C for the next
century. The adverse environmental consequences including extreme
weather could be a 5-10% loss in global GDP or higher. The report
states that achieving the necessary deep cuts in emissions will
have a cost and estimates the annual costs of stabilisation at
500-550ppm CO2e to be around 1% of GDP by 2050. It states the
power sector will have to be 60-75% decarbonised by 2050 to stabilise
at or below 550ppm CO2e. It further suggests stabilisation at
450ppm CO2e is already almost out of reach, given that we are
likely to reach this level within ten years and that there are
real difficulties of making the sharp reductions required with
current and foreseeable technologies.
This assumption need not be so! The use of microalgae
technology could be viably & globally implemented within three
to five years through 10 years to stabilise at 450ppm CO2e. The
report empasises the need to embrace CCS (Carbon Capture &
Storage) technologies, though microalgae technologies could conceivably
replace the need for wide-scale CCS deployment. The World Bank
states the average price for primary carbon creditsis €8.40
a tonne in 2007 which is well below the levels needed to viably
finance CCS projects. Nevertheless the UK Govt believes CCS could
contribute up to 28% of global carbon dioxide mitigation by 2050.
If our technology can capture the same amount of CO2, without
storage, then this confirms it's capability to be a highly sustainable
biofuel and lessen the need for CCS.
4. At what stage is biofuel technology? Is
there enough support for the development of biofuel technology?
A UN report found that the climate change benefits of solid biomass
fuels outweigh those of liquid biofuels. Are current policies
promoting the development and deployment of a range of biofuel
technologies? How successful have EU strategies and Directives
been in stimulating biofuel usage? Will the 2010 biofuel target
be reached? How effective are the Government's fiscal arrangements
for biofuels?
To answer in the context of using microalgae
as a sustainable biofuel.
This microalgae technology has not yet been
proven commercially. The specialist knowledge needed to develop
and exploit the technology is provided by ESL's Technical Advisor
Samuel Shepherd who has extensive experience in the oil and gas,
and sewage sludge treatment industries. He is a chemical, environmental
& forensic engineer, and has considerable experience in bringing
new technologies from development through to commercialisation.
The specialist knowledge within the collaborative
team, which includes the University of Southampton, E.On and Pilkington,
will also be valuable in developing and commercialising the technology.
The team has considerable expertise in business start ups and
fundraising, and in the technical areas necessary to make this
project a success. The team also benefits from the R&D expertise
from the partners at the University of Southampton, Double H Nurseries,
Eco-Solids International, E.ON and Pilkington.
Why we will succeed where others have failed
There are two widely acknowledged barriers to
successfully utilising microalgae bioreactor technology to mass
produce biodiesel from the algal oil. The first is the ability
to cultivate microalgae in a bioreactor on a commercial scale
without suffering from the catastophic failure that results when
the microalgae grows too quickly. The second is the ability to
successfully extract the algal oil efficiently and at a low cost.
Our bioreactor and the oil extraction technology have addressed
these barriers and enable us to succeed where others so far have
failed.
Our bioreactor technology is leading edge. It
incorporates the concept of autocatalytic fermentation of microalgae,
and an innovative reactor design to maximize CO2 capture and biomass
production while maintaining reactor control. The other innovative
concept is in the oil extraction from the biomass without the
use of inefficient extraction processes and hazardous chemicals.
It is believed that there are no operating systems
using microalgae bioreactor technology that have successfully
been proven to operate anywhere in the world. Green Fuel Technologies
have been pioneering the potential use of algal bioreactors in
the US and they themselves have acknowledged that their scaled
up technology grew algae faster than expected. This triggered
failure as they could not harvest the rapidly growing algae quickly
enough. Their unexpected density limited light and nutrient supply,
which caused them to start dying. Their commercial scale reactors
had to be shut down. The competition has, across the board, been
able to demonstrate on a small test scale the capability of their
technology to use captured CO2 to cultivate microalgae as a source
of biomass fuel. None however have been able to scale up their
technology to cultivate microalgae commercially without their
systems becoming clogged up. Our own research and that of others
including the University of Southampton and RWE npower confirm
this to be so.
This is why the concept of our bioreactor system
combines a mixed continuous reactor with a plug flow reactor,
which can control this rate of growth through the nutrient feed
and the rate of circulation will succeed where others have failed.
Our system is also critical in that it contains an automatic harvesting
system. The principles of using these methods are already proven
in the sewage sludge treatment industry. Applying these same principles
to microalgae cultivation will utilise already proven methods
in a different industry. The capability of this concept both to
capture carbon and produce a secure energy supply on a scale to
provide a significant proportion of the UK's energy requirements
is very compelling.
The industry is also struggling to extract the
algal oil from the biomass efficiently. The main methods to extract
the algal oil are Expeller/Press and Hexane solvent oil extraction.
These two together have a costly opex and have chemical issues
but can derive more than 95% of the total oil present. We can
use ESI's cell disintegration technology called Bug Buster, which
is already proven in sewage sludge treatment, to extract the algal
oil from the algal biomass much more efficiently and economically
than existing techniques.
The University of Southampton have considerable
engineering and microalgae expertise. Their team has examined
our microalgae bioreactor process technology and has confirmed
that they understand why our bioreactor technology will work where
the others have failed. They also are not aware of any other entity
utilising our technology process.
The high yield capability of microalgae to produce
9mn litres of biodiesel pa from a facility constructed on 1.35
hectares to absorb 100,000 tonnes of CO2 pa provides very compelling
process economics.
Funding constraints
It is however highly relevant to advise that
it is extremely difficult to raise funding for developing new
biofuel technology and this remains a limiting factor in the successful
development of this technology. Investors are reluctant to invest
whilst there remains a risk that the technology might not succeed.
Can the UK and others afford not to let this
technology be successfully developed. This may happen unless adequate
development funding can be secured.
2010 biofuel target
The 2010 biofuel target can be met through the
successful implementation of this technology.
5. The EU Strategy for Biofuels claims that
biofuels "are a direct substitute for fossil fuels in transport
and can readily be integrated into fuel supply systems".
What proportion of UK domestic transport and energy generation
could be fuelled by UK-produced biofuels? Is it possible for biofuels
to entirely replace oil for transport purposes? Is there a role
for public procurement or public transport? Will biofuels improve
fuel security? How secure are biofuel crops from unexpected events
such as drought or disease?
To answer in the context of using microalgae
as a sustainable biofuel.
Biofuel Capability
Producing biofuel at this cost is comparable
with the targeted costs for second generation biofuels shown in
Working Paper 1 of the May 07 UK Biomass Strategy Paper. The legislation
drivers and the fact that this is a bolt-on technology will enable
a relatively dynamic implementation of this technology. The legislation
driver for the Biofuel Capability will come from the UK/EU moving
towards 20% of electricity required to be produced from renewables
by 2020. Further, the RTFO (Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation)
will also require transport fuel suppliers to ensure that 5% of
their overall fuel sales is from a renewable source by 2010-11,
rising to 10% by 2020. Less than 1% of UK road transport fuel
is currently sourced from biofuels. Our high yield biofuel technology
with its additional anaerobic digestion capability could readily
address the current shortfalls in these requirements and will
be attractive to fuel suppliers like BP and Shell, as well as
emitters like E.ON, LaFarge and Pilkington who could additionally
benefit from co-firing the biofuel in their power plants and furnaces.
Putting this microalgae high yield capability
into context, the aforementioned microalgae target capture of
10% of UK CO2 emissions from Power Stations and Industry, ie capturing
7.8MtC pa, would require microalgae bioreactor plants with a combined
footprint area across the UK of only 287 hectares. This bioreactor
footprint could produce two billion litres of biodiesel pa. The
UK currently uses 47 billion litres of petrol and diesel pa. If
our bioreactor technology could be used to capture this 10% of
UK Power Station and Industry CO2 emissions, it could produce
in biofuel the entire shortfall between current UK biofuel production
and the 5% of total fuel consumption required to meet the RTFO
by 2010. With most low yield biofuel crops, the significant limiting
factor remains the availability of arable land without displacing
crops for food production. The UK Biomass Strategy Paper sets
out that, to meet demand, a further 350,000 hectares will need
to be brought into biofuel and energy crop production by 2020
bringing total UK energy crop land to around 1 mn hectares, equivalent
to 17% of total UK arable land. This increase of 350,000 will
have an effect on food production and compares with the less than
the equivalent of 1000 hectares required if microalgae technologies
are adopted instead.
6. What impact would an expansion of UK production
of biofuels have on the ability of the UK to produce its own food?
How might this impact on greenhouse gas emissions from international
trade patterns? What impact might the expansion of biofuels have
on international food security and prices?
To answer in the context of using microalgae
as a sustainable biofuel.
If microalgae bioreactor technology can be successfully
developed, the impact would be minimal.
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