EVERYBODY’S GROWING ALGAE

Algae Company Number 56: Plankton Power; The startup has partnered with the state’s National Guard, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Marine Biological Laboratory on a planned $20 million pilot plant
Jeff St. John, August 4, 2009 (Greentech Media)

"Most algae companies are either growing algae in open ponds or bioreactors…Startup Plankton Power says it will combine the two. But first it needs $20 million…

"…[Plankton Power] potentially can produce 100,000 gallons of biodiesel per acre with proprietary system that combines open ponds and closed bioreactors…The company has gotten some prominent partners in the project – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Marine Biological Laboratory, which will help in researching new strains of algae…"

They've always known the growing potential is huge. Keeping costs down in the refining process is the challenge. (click to enlarge)

"Still, the claim may well garner skepticism among watchers of the algae-to-biofuel race now underway …[T]he 53 algae biofuel startups covered in an April report by Greentech Media analyst Eric Wesoff have yet to produce commercial-scale quantities. The report did not include Shell, which has inked research deals with some algae companies, Targeted Growth and Genifuel…That makes 56 and there are undoubtedly more…

"Exxon, which just said it would invest $600 million into algae biofuel research, half in partnership with genetic engineering firm Synthetic Genomics, has put a goal of 2,000 gallons per acre on algae...Henrik Scheller, director of cell wall biosynthesis at the Joint BioEnergy Institute at U.C. Berkeley, has said that 4,400 gallons per acre per year is a limit for algae-based biofuels, given the plant's ability to capture sunlight – a limit that Plankton, along with other startups, says it can overcome…"

Schematic of an algae power plant. The growing fields could be closed bioreactors or open ponds. (click to enlarge)

"…[Plankton Power] plans to use carbon dioxide from a source such as a power plant to feed non-genetically modified strains of algae that have a greater than usual lipid, or fat, content, of up to 65 percent… But the key to what Plankton Power says it can achieve is its system of combining open ponds and closed bioreactors to boost growth about sixfold compared to natural growth…The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Aquatic Species Program, a 20-year research effort, determined that open ponds were the most cost-effective way to grow algae. But proponents of closed bioreactors say they've found ways to make them work more cost-effectively…

"…Plankton Power's system circulates algae-filled water between an open pond and a bioreactor system that lies on top of it. That increases the number of light-dark cycles the algae are exposed to, which makes them grow faster…Plankton Power has also developed a process to separate the algae from the water it grows in for harvesting through a continuous screening process…From there, the company has a process to fracture the algae cell walls and remove and purify the oil within, which can be converted to biodiesel with a minimal cost…Whether Plankton Power will get the public and private funding it seeks to build its pilot plant and prove its technology remains to be seen…[and] funding is no guarantee of success…"