Shell to make biofuel from algae

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Shell and HR Biopetroleum build facility to grow algae for biofuel
WEBWIRE – Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Royal Dutch Shell plc and HR Biopetroleum today announced the construction of a pilot facility in Hawaii to grow marine algae and produce vegetable oil for conversion into biofuel.

The announcement is a further step in Shell’s ongoing effort to develop a new generation of biofuels using sustainable, non-food raw materials. Algae hold great promise because they grow very rapidly, are rich in vegetable oil and can be cultivated in ponds of seawater, minimising the use of fertile land and fresh water.

Shell and HR Biopetroleum have formed a joint venture company, called Cellana, to develop this project, with Shell taking the majority share. Construction of the demonstration facility on the Kona coast of Hawaii Island will begin immediately. The site, leased from the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), is near existing commercial algae enterprises, primarily serving the pharmaceutical and nutrition industries.

The facility will grow only non-modified, marine microalgae species in open-air ponds using proprietary technology. Algae strains used will be indigenous to Hawaii or approved by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Protection of the local environment and marine ecosystem has been central to facility design. Once the algae are harvested, the vegetable oil will be extracted. The facility’s small production volumes will be used for testing.

An academic research programme will support the project, screening natural microalgae species to determine which ones produce the highest yields and the most vegetable oil. The programme will include scientists from the Universities of Hawaii, Southern Mississippi and Dalhousie, in Nova Scotia, Canada.

An advantage of algae is their rapid growth. They can double their mass several times a day and produce at least 15 times more oil per hectare than alternatives such as rape, palm soya or jatropha. Moreover, facilities can be built on coastal land unsuitable for conventional agriculture. Over the long term, algae cultivation facilities also have the potential to absorb or ‘capture’ waste CO2 directly from industrial facilities such as power plants. The Cellana demonstration will use bottled CO2 to explore this potential.

“Algae have great potential as a sustainable feedstock for production of diesel-type fuels with a very small CO2 footprint,” said Graeme Sweeney, Shell Executive Vice President Future Fuels and CO2. “This demonstration will be an important test of the technology and, critically, of commercial viability”.

“HR Biopetroleum’s proven technology provides a solid platform for commercial development and potential deployment worldwide,” Mark Huntley, HR Biopetroleum Chief Science Officer said. “Shell’s expertise and commitment to next generation biofuels complements our own strengths, and makes this a truly collaborative partnership.”

Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 130 countries, with businesses including: oil and gas exploration; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals; and renewable energy projects including wind, solar and biofuels.

www.shell.com/aboutshell

HR Biopetroleum Inc., incorporated in the State of Delaware and headquartered in the State of Hawaii, is a developer of large-scale microalgae production technology. It was founded by a group of leading marine scientists and is dedicated to the development of commercially viable and socially responsible biofuel production technology. The company constructs and operates algae biofuels plants that use effluent gases from power plants to produce renewable fuels and to mitigate emissions of carbon.

www.HRbiopetroleum.com

* An electronic press kit, including downloadable images, will be available from http://www.shell.com/announcement11dec

* Royal Dutch Shell plc is working to meet government mandates for biofuel and, with its experience, expertise and assets, has become the world’s largest distributor of biofuels. The company is working with biofuel manufacturers to secure cost-effective supply and press for social and environmental safeguards. A constraint on the potential of conventional biofuels is that they use food crops. Shell is a leader in the development of next generation biofuels, using non food bio materials, alternative processes and high performance fuels.

* The expression Cellana is used for convenience to refer to both Cellana Inc. and Cellana B.V.

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http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=54866

SeanW

As a person who likes the concept of biodiesel, this is one thing I think will prove to be a very good idea. I've been watching the development of biodiesel and although biodiesel from algae gets mentioned a lot, this is the first time I've seen some serious movement on it, though there is an active plan to set up a algal bioreactor by a gas fired power station somewhere in the U.S.

cavedave

Does this press release give a amount of carbon input to output?
Corn bases biofuels have a 4 in 5 out ratio. Algae has the potential of better returns. But until i get some figures i will be skeptical.

Until you get figures on carbon in v's carbon out this could be just pr.

bonkey

cavedave wrote: »

Does this press release give a amount of carbon input to output?
Corn bases biofuels have a 4 in 5 out ratio.

How can one output more carbon than is input?

Algae has the potential of better returns. But until i get some figures i will be skeptical.

Until you get figures on carbon in v's carbon out this could be just pr.

It could be just pr, but I doubt it. The idea isn't actually all that new and algae have been long considered to be the best option if someone can just get over the various technical difficulties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuel_from_algae has some more information.

probe

cavedave wrote: »

Does this press release give a amount of carbon input to output?
Corn bases biofuels have a 4 in 5 out ratio. Algae has the potential of better returns. But until i get some figures i will be skeptical.

Until you get figures on carbon in v's carbon out this could be just pr.

The media release is here: http://www.shell.com/home/content/media-en/news_and_library/press_releases/2007/biofuels_cellana_11122007.html

The related press kit is here: http://www.shell.com/home/content/media-en/news_and_library/biofuels/biofuels_cellana_presskit_11122007.html

The press kit includes a short video (with bursts of sound).

No CO2 input/output numbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel shows that Algae has the highest litres of biofuel per hectare of all crops (7,660 litres / ha) compared with George Bush’s “favorite” (maize) which only yields 172 litres / ha – which is the lowest yielding biofuel shown!

One concern in the back of my mind is that “big oil” may be looking for opportunities to patent some aspect of the algae to biofuel production cycle. They have big investments in the conventional oil industry to protect for another few decades, and their profits will rise in tandem with oil price increases as the demand for oil grows in an environment of limited increases in production capacity.

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cavedave

How can one output more carbon than is input?

Fair point.

uglyjohn

^^ i cant link to back it up, but i think its because of the chemical fertilizer and fuel required for tractors etc involved.


i remember seeing figures about how it takes x litres of diesel per hectare to grow, and you get y litres of fuel out (with y less than x)

i hope you get what i mean, i made my point very badly.

Mailman

probe wrote: »

The media release is here: http://www.shell.com/home/content/media-en/news_and_library/press_releases/2007/biofuels_cellana_11122007.html

The related press kit is here: http://www.shell.com/home/content/media-en/news_and_library/biofuels/biofuels_cellana_presskit_11122007.html

The press kit includes a short video (with bursts of sound).

No CO2 input/output numbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel shows that Algae has the highest litres of biofuel per hectare of all crops (7,660 litres / ha) compared with George Bush’s “favorite” (maize) which only yields 172 litres / ha – which is the lowest yielding biofuel shown!

One concern in the back of my mind is that “big oil” may be looking for opportunities to patent some aspect of the algae to biofuel production cycle. They have big investments in the conventional oil industry to protect for another few decades, and their profits will rise in tandem with oil price increases as the demand for oil grows in an environment of limited increases in production capacity.

.probe

Perhaps, but I'd say strategically they'd only be interested in patenting it to prevent competition from a cheaper cleaner source until they exhausted their own wells. The oil that is easy to get at has been got at and exploration is difficult. Patents only last 20 years and since the Press Release specifically mentions no GMO I think there is less to worry about. The sooner they patent the sooner it comes in to the public domain.

probe

Mailman wrote: »

Perhaps, but I'd say strategically they'd only be interested in patenting it to prevent competition from a cheaper cleaner source until they exhausted their own wells. The oil that is easy to get at has been got at and exploration is difficult. Patents only last 20 years and since the Press Release specifically mentions no GMO I think there is less to worry about. The sooner they patent the sooner it comes in to the public domain.

20 years patent delaying tactic would do them nicely! And if they need patent protection for a longer period, the way IPR laws are being expanded at the call of vested interests in various countries (eg over the past decade people have patented virtually anything in the US) they will do that too. In the extreme, patent protection is akin to the ambulance chasing lawyer lot!

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