But if it can, is there a fortune to be made from common pond-scum?

The Many Perks of Slime
Algae, the fastest-growing plants on earth, are capable of producing 30 times more energy per acre than ‘first generation biofuels,’ which consist of food sources such as corn, soybeans, sugarcane, palm oil, and sunflower among others.  Food-derived biofuels have unquestionably created global havoc due to their growing side effects, such as rising food prices, large CO2 footprint, deforestation, pesticide contamination, and anoxic waters from agricultural runoff in tributary destinations such as Gulf of Mexico.

On the other hand, “‘Second generation biofuels’ do not require dipping into the feedstock reserve, and perform better socially and environmentally,” according to World Resources Institute. Many researchers claim algal fuel will become the greenest of the “second generation biofuels,” which also include cellulosic-derived biofuels and prairie grasses, like switchgrass.
 
"There is no other resource that comes even close in magnitude to the potential for making oil," says John Sheehan, in Popular Mechanics. Sheehan is an energy analyst with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO, who worked with the Lab's original algae program before it was shut down by the Department of Energy in 1995.

“While corn produces 60 or so gallons of ethanol an acre annually, commercially harvested algae can provide up to 10,000 gallons of biofuel on agriculturally poor land like deserts,” says Dave Daggett, research chief at Boeing.

Given the high oil content, ranging from 20-50%, algae are ideally suited for biodiesel production.  The remaining carbohydrates can be converted to ethanol, and the algae proteins can be recycled into cattle feed ingredients or recycled back to a combustion source as biomass for power generation.

Algae as a fuel-stock have many sustainable perks, including recycling human waste streams for fertilizer, such as green house gas smokestacks and contaminated water.

In a recent Algae Summit in San Francisco, Nick Gerritsen of Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation says the amount of CO2 that can be absorbed by algae can be  "quite significant". Best of all, he says, algae have an extremely fast growth rate. “They can double their mass in hours.”

Research at leading universities suggests algae could create enough fuel to meet all of America's transportation needs in the form of biodiesel, using a scant 0.2% of the nation's land, which is a mere 4.5 million acres.

However, despite the promising claims of the algae panacea, only a few gallons of algae fuel have been produced to date, and the commercial potential of the scheme is yet to be proved.

Researchers Race to Find Best Algae
"There are hurdles throughout the process stream," says Eric Jarvis, a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which has revived its algal fuel research program, now funded by Chevron.  “Many more inputs need to be analyzed and further experimentations need to be done before one can be sure of algal oil being a worthy large-scale substitute for petro-diesel.”

Numerous start-up companies and academic programs are embarking on the many ways to extend the already enormous value of algae as biomass.

Nearly 100,000 strains of naturally occurring algae are being tested in research facilities and labs to identify the oiliest, fastest growing species, and how best these strains can perform in closed or open systems without becoming contaminated by inferior species.

In other labs, genetically modified super algae are budding.  Tasios Melis, a professor of enzymology at the University of California at Berkeley, has created genetically modified strains of algae that speed growth rates of naturally occurring algae and increase its hydrocarbon content, which could boost the biodiesel yield of bioreactors from 10,000 gallons per acre to 20,000 gallons or more.

Several start-up companies are developing bioreactors to efficiently grow the algae in.  The most successfully funded project thus far has been GreenFuel Technologies, which develops a smokestack retrofit product (to recycle CO2) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  With its initial venture funding of $20 million, GreenFuel, partnered with NRG Energy, plan to build its three-acre bioreactor pilot project adjacent to an undisclosed utility power generation plant in the Southwest.

To Grow in the Lab or in the Wild?
Meanwhile, there is a growing divide between those who advocate algae monoculture and those who advocate wild algae.  Wild algae believers, in particular, reject methods of using closed-system ponds or bioreactors to manipulate growing conditions, because methods are too costly and unproductive.

Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation, a New Zealand start-up, claim its small-scale “low tech” innovation fits "on the back of a truck", and is cheap enough to be adopted anywhere. "Our aim is to enable communities to use their wild algae feedstock and become as self-sufficient as they can," says Nick Gerritsen, a partner in the firm.

The company has patented a process to extract biofuel from sewage, and last year New Zealand's minister for energy, David Parker, road tested a car run on the company's algal oil.

For large-scale commercially cultivated algae projects, environmental concerns and costs present large barriers for production.  According to Dan Kammen, Director of UC Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, “The chance these algae won’t get lose in the wild, is zero.” Particularly since “marine algae produce the highest yields,” non-native and/or genetically modified marine algae being harvested adjacent to the open ocean could greatly impact marine ecosystems. Furthermore, “Synthetic algal biology is a long way from leaving the lab.”

Counter to Kammen’s argument, Shell recently announced it is teaming up with HR Biopetroleum to form a joint venture company called Cellana that will grow the highly productive marine algae for biofuel.

Shell insists that the protection of the marine ecosystem will be central to their facility design, taking place in Hawaii. They plan to grow only non-modified, marine microalgae species that are indigenous to Hawaii or approved by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

How Much Will it Cost?
With respect to costs, commercial algal fuel naysayers argue that it will be very difficult to compete economically, with billions of dollars invested at the taxpayer's expense in 'first generation fuels,' not to mention the enormous capital costs associated with creating a facility to grow algae.

“Although capital costs are much higher than first generation biofuels,” according to Michael Briggs, laboratory manager at the University of New Hampshire Physics Department, “The ongoing processing costs could be much lower for algae since you don't have to drive a tractor over a field, or water a crop or rotate crops."

Briggs, along with other algae researchers, are confident that a combination of rising oil costs and government environmental and energy incentives will improve the viability of algae as a fuel source.

In fact, a research group from Utah State, claim their algae bioreactor’s biodiesel could become economically feasible as early as 2009.

Flying on Algae
Even companies like Virgin Airlines and Boeing, who are members of the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative, are set on the idea of using algal fuel.  Since the FAA forecasts air traffic will more than double by 2025, along with the greenhouse gases associated with aviation, both Virgin Airlines and Boeing have committed to undergo test flights using a mixture of fuels that are “truly sustainable” and would “not compete with food or freshwater resources,” says Virgin’s founder, Richard Branson.

“One option is to create this biodiesel from algae,” says Daggett of Boeing, who will test fly their biodiesel Airbus later this year. Unfortunately, “Algal biodiesel may be a decade off before it could receive airline industry approval,” due to issues such as bio-diesel’s congealing disability at low temperatures. 

Although many unanswered questions remain, the prospects that algal fuel may provide a sustainable solution to reduce dependence on foreign oil and lower greenhouse gas emissions seem far greater than any other options at present.  Until now, pond scum in murky waters never sounded so exciting.

Photo courtesy of the blog epicself.com