COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF ALGAE FOR FOOD AND FUELThis is a featured page

MONTANA SYNERGY, LLP BUSINESS PLAN FOR
COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION OF ALGAE FOR FOOD
AND FUEL USING PHOTOBIOREACTOR TECHNOLOGY
The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay
  1. OVERVIEW

Why algae? Algae grows ten times faster than standard plants. Spirulina platensis has 70% protein by dry weight. Chlorella vulgaris can produce up to 50% of lipids for use as feedstock for production of biodiesel. While it makes sense to grow in the lower latitudes, is it possible to grow algae in Montana year around, using photobioreactors? This paper explores some probable answers.

Biodiesel

Leadership in the field of algae for oil stock is largely that by the U. S. Department of Energy. Its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (FREE) has supported its goals with money. The goals are to establish commercial biorefinery technology by 2010 and to commercialize at least four biobased products. The driving force toward these goals is the relative efficiency of producing biodiesel: “Methyl esters (aka biodiesel) is one of two primary platform chemicals for the oleochemical industry. The production of methyl esters is highly efficient (yields exceeding 99.7%) and their total average production costs are minimalized, given the constraints of feedstock costs and economies of scale. Investments in processing technology have limited impact on production costs.” (Tyson 2004, p. ii) i Conversion efficiencies also play a part in the energy equation.


“How Do the Fuels Compare?

In terms of efficient energy production and overall carbon dioxide emissions, biodiesel trumps not only conventional diesel, but also gasoline and gasoline’s bio-fuel substitute, ethanol. For example, according to a study by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, biodiesel produces 3.2 units of energy for every unit of fossil-fuel-energy consumed in its production. Ethanol yields a lower 1.34 units of energy, while gasoline and conventional diesel represent a negative yield. (The influx of solar energy into the organic resources—corn, soy, etc.—that will eventually become ethanol or biodiesel accounts for their positive energy yield.)

The efficiency of the four fuels breaks down as follows:


FUEL ENERGY YIELD* NET ENERGY (LOSS) OR GAIN
Biodiesel** 3.20 220 percent
Ethanol 1.34 34 percent
Petrodiesel .843 (15.7 percent)
Gasoline .805 (19.5 percent)


Montana Synergy proposed production

The target production facilities are in the old, unused, aircraft hangers at the Glasgow, MT, airport which will provide wind, rain, structure, security, and snow protection. Pans 10' wide and 82 feet long, stacked 4 high, and provided with artificial and natural lighting, will produce the algae. The stack of pans will be so constructed as to provide a controlled environment similar to a greenhouse, but at a much smaller cost. Heat and electricity will be provided by biofuels, namely biodiesel.

Algae will be two main varieties: Spirulina sp. for food and Chlorella vulgaris, sp. for fuel. Processing of Chlorella vulgaris will produce as its primary output, feedstock for production of biodiesel. Some subspecies contain as much as 50% lipids. How much is recoverable and by what means, in a commercial production setting, is one of the subjects of this paper. Currently, commercial kitchens will give away their waste oils (WVO). Eventually, the “free” WVO will cost money as more small producers bid for the WVO. Also, WVO volumes are static and do not offer a high growth rate in any given town. In order to increase the volume of feedstock, Montana Synergy would have to transport the feedstock over increasing longer distances.

At some point the transportation costs and limited supply (plus being charged for the WVO) makes it too cost ineffective to rely only on WVO. The algae for fuel program has an almost unlimited potential for production. Also, after the lipids are extracted, we still have some of the oils (high in Omega 3), the carbohydrates and some minerals, all of which make good feed. Were the supplies of WVO to be a severe limiting factor due to increasing cost or lack of availability, a biodiesel producer might be tempted to use oil extracted from oil seed crops.

However, as biodiesel production ramps up in the United States, and costs of production of such oils increases, the biodiesel refiners will face the same problem: price gouging by seed crushers and limited availability. What is the solution? Answer: Grow a crop which requires very little cost input, a crop which can be expanded as quickly as needed, and can be grown on a continuous basis. The answer is algae for fuel. FREE reported that the cost of oil seed feed stock ranges from $0.75 to over $1.00 per gallon (Tyson, 2004, p. vi). Our estimates of algal oil cost is in the range of $0.10 to $0.40 per gallon of unrefined, crude feedstock of algal oil. In terms of yield of oil to input costs, one should consider that oil seed crops are, relative to algal crops, inefficient as biodiesel feedstock sources. Soybeans have 18% by weight of oil to mass, making the meal the “product” and the oil the “co-product” and typically yield 56 gallons of oil per acre. Canola, sunflower, rapeseed and mustard are, relative to soybean, more efficient, yielding around 40% oil content and around 70 gallons per acre. DOE Mustard hybrid has the highest yield per acre, at 40% oil and 143.

The yield per acre for algal oil grown in photobioreactors should be 40 to 100 times more productive (50% oil) on a gallons per acre basis. (Tyson, 2004, p. 35) The production and distribution chain for oil seed-to-biodiesel is typically complex. Oil seed producers market in bulk to the crushers, which then market the oil and the meal to separate buyers. The oil buyers, then typically resell the food grade oil to the human food industry and the non-food grade oil to companies which use the oil to make cosmetics, animal feed, lubricants, bunker fuel oil, and biodiesel.

These many links in the chain and the many demands for the oil, drive the price of seed oil up for the biodiesel producer. The proposed algal oil program eliminates these middlemen and envelopes the entire process from production to biodiesel sales or self-use. Montana Synergy will be vertically integrated from raw materials to retail consumer. Algal foods. Sales of Spirulina will be into several markets: Spirulina flower can be combined with hard Durham flower for making pasta and breads. Spirulina flower and a binder can be pressed in the form of a lettuce leaf, dyed green, and sold as “slettuce.” It has many markets in the food, supplement, and cosmetic industry. A blue food colorant (phycocyanin) can be extracted and sold for commercial use. (Madhavi et al., 1999) ii By extracting the lipids, it can also be made into biodiesel, biolubricants and other industrial products. Spirulina is high in Omega 3 fats; it may prove more profitable for the company and more beneficial for the customer to leave the lipids in the product when sold as a health supplement.

  1. SCIENCE

    1. Algae for food – Summary.
Algae as food has a history over thousands of years. “On the dining tables in Japan and France, aquatic algae are consumed in tonnes. Whether stewed or fried, whether in the form of soup or noodles, or as a flavoring mix on the side, in recent years, algae have clearly advanced to the status of culinary trend setters. Viewed from a worldwide perspective, the use of algae as a leguminous food makes for the biggest share of this market in terms of both value and volume. This segment does, in fact, account for about two thirds of the total production, with Asiatic countries, where direct algoid food consumption is high, ranking on top. This is a statistical fact which comes as little surprise, because people in that region have not only known algae for many thousands of years, but they have also come to really appreciate them thanks to the many nutritious and sensory qualities they bring to food preparation.” Spirulina ­platensis, ­appears to be the odds-on favorite cultivar for production of food. See article by Pia Mauates at endnote No. 3: (Mauates, 2006) iii


    1. Algae for fuel – Summary.

“Any future R & D program for microalgae CO2 capture and biofuels production must start with the development of the microalgae “biocatalysts.” The goal will be to construct strains via genetic engineering or other strain improvement methods that achieve a very high solar conversion efficiencies and yield high lipid (oil) microalgal biomass, as required by the economic analysis.” (Tyson, 2004, p. 262). Chlorella vulgaris appears to be the odds-on-favorite to become the source of feedstock for biodiesel. The problem with this selection is that the algae grow in a hardened case as a spheroid, which gives rise to difficult harvesting and lipid extraction problems. When a better specie is perfected, preferable filimenteous by nature, it will be relatively easy to change out the specie or sub-specie to the higher content algae.

The U. S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory spent $25 million over 20 years researching algae for biodiesel. Three candidate Chlorella vulgaris sub-specie were examined by NREL: “Approximately 300 strains were collected from the 1984 trips to Utah and Colorado. Of these, only 15 grew well at temperatures ≥30ºC and conductivities greater than 5 mmho•cm-1. Nine were diatoms, including the genera Amphora, Cymbella, Amphipleura, Chaetoceros, Nitzschia, Hantzschia, and Diploneis. Several chlorophytes (Chlorella, Scenedesmus, Ankistrodesmus, and Chlorococcum) were also identified as promising strains, along with one chrysophyte (Boekelovia).” (Sheehan, 1998) iv And Additional algal strains. (Lewin, 1985) v, (Sommerfeld 1987b) vi

Studies on open race-way ponds resulted in the conclusion that until petrodiesel reached $2.00 per gallon, it was not economically feasible to produce algae as feedstock for biodiesel. (Sheehan, 1998) vii However, considering that petrodiesel is today likely to stay much higher than $2.00 per gallon, renewable energy sources from organics are taking the spotlight. For example, oil from soy (no sulfur) has an energy efficiency of 3.2 to 1. Using thermal depolymerization of waste organics high in oil, the ratio would range from 5 to 10. Waste vegetable oil has an efficiency ratio of 4 to 5. Extraction of lipids.

There are three main ways to extract feedstock oil from algae: Break the cell walls mechanically, biologically, or chemically. The most efficient mechanical means is by use of thermal depolymerization process. (Changing Technologies, 2006) viii An alternative mechanical method is to use a high pressure, cyclone centrifuge which applies sufficient G-force to breach the walls. The “soup” can then be heated in water and the oil skimmed from the top of the vat. Mechanical pressure via a screw press or hydraulic press can break the cell walls, allowing the oil to escape into a collection system. The remaining cake can be sold or the meal further processed using hextane solvent. The chemical approach would require breaching of the cell walls, then dissolving the lipids with hextane, then recovering the lipids and recovering of the solvents.

Another promising approach is to use enzymes to break the cell walls and convert the oil directly to biodiesel. (Nagle, 1987) ix Water is the solvent, allowing the oil to rise and be skimmed. Recovery of the enzymes appears to be impractical; thus a source of cheap enzymes is the key to this approach. x



  1. PRODUCTION – LOCATION, INFRASTRUCTRE

Production is based on water, minerals, heat, sunlight and agitation. The production facilities will be house in any building, an old mine tunnel – anything which provides protection against rain, snow and wind and is affordable. The candidate buildings are the hangers and other empty buildings of the airport in Glasgow, MT. Boeing did have a test facility at the airport but closed it Heating the entire hanger is simply too expensive. Ownership is unknown, probably the local county or a government sponsored economic development corporation. Rent would have to be $1.00 per year until production begins, then rent would be based a small percent of adjusted gross revenue, say 1%.

The Growing Pans Production will be in shallow pans 10' wide and 82- long. The pans will be about six inches tall and have about three inches of freeboard. Shallow pans (10 cm +/-) have been shown to have the optimum growing conditions. The Montana Synergy plan is for about four inches of water. xi Pans will be built in 24 foot sections, then assembled in the hanger. Pans can be built at Fort Peck or any Indian reservation. When assembled, each pan will be joined to the next (butt joint), secured by a strip of OSB, glued along the joint on the underside. Pans should be approximately 82 feet long or as permitted by the hanger. Schematic plans for the photobioreactor are under TAB A. Heat will be supplied by radiant heating-- hot water enclosed in PEX tubing laid on the floor of the pans. The PEX and an Econo Heat water boilers, using waste vehicle and equipment oils, pumps, valves and control panels will provide regulated heat to the growing medium.

Space heating can be supplemented by using heat exchanges which will draw heat from the generators' exhausts and the exhausts from the dehydrators. Also, the humid air from the dehydrators will be ducted into the hoop barns. The water level can be as low as 2” and as high at 6”. The exact placement height of the pan sideboards and the depth of water will depend on the cost and availability of the pre-formed foam blocks for the concrete walls to fit the intended size. Nutrition As a nutrient source for the Spirulina algae, ground, dehydrated fish guts, and ground dehydrated kelp, reconstituted with water, would make a good source of compost tea as nutrients for the Spirulina. For Chlorella vulgaris, sp., local sources might included compost tea made from well rotted compost. The Spirulina should be sold as certified organic; hence, the inputs should be from organic sources. Depending on its marketability, certified organic biodiesel could become a high value, niche product. Agitation (“spranging”) is necessary to aid the growth of the “bottom” side of the algal mass. Unless the mix of water and algae are agitated, thermal depressions can occur. More importantly, the algae on top will shade the lower algae, thus inhibiting growth and cell division.

Two systems will be employed to provide mixing.

  • Thin-wall, perforated PVC tubing will be placed in a patten along the bottom of the pan and air, enriched with CO2 , will be pumped into these tubes. The escaping air will rise and create turbulence.
  • Water will flow from distal end toward the harvest end of each pan. The PEX tubing and the air tubes will be arranged in a 2 D
  • The PVC spranging pipe will create “rills” over which the water flows, thus contributing to the turbulence and mixing. Heat from the PEX will rise, thus creating some additional mixing by convection.
  • The operations will be housed inside the buildings in greenhouses, the roof structure of which will be made of 1.5 inch PVC, schedule 40, pipe and fittings. The hoops and cross-sections will be on five foot centers. The span will be 28 to 30 feet. The PVC will rest on the top of two walls, spaced at 30 feet (outside dimension) and will rise in “bow” shape.
  • The “roof” will be six mil., clear PVC sheeting in three layers with air pumped into the two interstitial spaces. This system is cheap, easy to erect, will not support bio growth, is easily cleaned and can be taken down with relative ease.

The two outside walls are solid and made of interlocking foam forms, the centers of which are hollow and the top and bottom surfaces are concave, thus allowing wet concrete when poured into the form, to create an X and Y matrix of structural concrete. Top of the form will thus support the PVC hoop roof. Pans will be in layers. Foam form concrete walls will be build along the outward sides of the hoop barn. The first layer rests on the slab floor which presumable is dead level. The second pan rests on TJI trusses, the ends of which rest on 4” ledge of a 16” foam/concrete course. The third pan rests on TJI trusses, the ends of which rest on a 4” ledge of a 12” foam/concrete course. The fourth pan rests on TJI trusses, the ends of which rest on 4” of an 8” foam course. The remaining 4” supports a 4” foam/concrete course on top of which rests TJI trusses which span the 10' pan. Access to the pans is from the main aisle and from access aisles on the ends of each pan. Walls also cap the ends of the entire set of pans and, between hoop barns, provide for a 6 foot walkway around the ends of the pan structures. The TJI trusses will be set at two foot on center along the courses, with blocking as appropriate. The OSB pans will be screwed or stapled to the TJI. The exterior walls of the pan will rest (or nearly so) against the adjacent foam/concrete wall. Plastic pan liners will be laid over the tubes and will contain the water. Grow lights, consisting of 8' florescent tube holders, will be attached to the bottom of every other TJI, (4' O.C.) thus providing growing light. Each stack of these pans is called a “Pan Pod”. Several Pan Pods make a Pan Rack. Investigation continues on how to combine the lamp holders and optic fibers so as to create a “combo” light source. The hot water heating will be provided by a boiler which uses waste motor oil and similar oils. There are five manufacturers which offer these types of products under 500,000 BTU and many more manufactures of larger units, which burn No. 6 fuel oil and higher. Biodiesel and/or ethanol or a mix of both, can be used as fuel for these units. Product literature from Econo Heat, Inc., Spokane, WA, is in the plastic pocket, inside rear cover of this notebook. Insulation of the greenhouse roof air nested between three layers of 6 mil PVC sheeting. Each sheet is an air and vapor barrier. A compressor fills the air spaces between the sheets with air. The air holds the sheets apart and provides for some insulation. Multiples layers of polysheeting will increase the insulation effect to reach R11. As each course of foam blocks is finished, the next level of blocks is laid which allows for a 4” ledge on the inside. The butt ends of the TJI's rest on these ledges. When all of the foam blocks are in place, all of the cells are filled with concrete, thus creating a very strong, well insulated structural wall which can take the weight of the TJI's and the water. The cord of the TJI will probably calculate out to be about 7” which together with the engineered wood flanges, will make the TJI's about 8”. The bottom of the TJI's will be about 16 inches above the pan, giving a net height of each pan assembly of about three feet. Height is no problem in the hangers. The roof structure will assembled out of 1.5” PVC pipe and fittings, on five foot centers. The roof covering will be of Tuffite III by ARCO; available in 20' x 100' 6 mil, sheeting xii

Electric power and water will be routed overhead throughout the greenhouse area. The Greenhouses The walls are concrete filled foam blocks. Pre-formed foam blocks come in all sizes and shapes. The cheapest and quickest is an interlocking block. The block at the bottom of the course on the concrete floor is 16” x 48”, has a 2” or so wall and is hollow. In the center space of each block is a 3/8” rebar set vertically, 9” deep into a 5/8” hole in the concrete slab filled with Simpson's epoxy concrete filler glue. These rebars extend to the full height of the wall. Each course has a lateral steel welded “ladder” for additional stability, which is installed between the blocks. The bottom and top the inner horizontal parts of the block cells are notched so that when the concrete is poured, it forms a homogeneous matrix on an X and Y axis. Water source and quality.

Preliminary studies show that ground water is available in Glasgow in adequate quantities, although not of drinking water quality. The algae will likely be able to grow in this water with little or no adverse consequences to growth and viability. (Barkclay 1987) xiii Carbon dioxide sources. As yet, no convenient, low cost source of carbon dioxide has been found. However, there is a prospect for such source from the proposed Bull Mountain coal-to-crude oil and gas liquefaction plant. The proposed photobioreactor plant is movable or, if buildings are available at Bull Mountain, could initially be located there. Unless free CO2 because available, CO2 can be developed from bicarbonate of soda. The extra calcium would increase the alkalinity, which would have a beneficial effect on the growth of the algae. (Ryther 1982) xiv The subsidiary issue is carbon fixation. Even if we have an abundant supply of cheap CO2 what do we know about the ability of the algae to absorb the CO2 ? A highly efficient photobioreactor would have to have a highly effective biological CO2 fixation rate. (Usui 1997) xv and (Zeiler 1994) xvi Pathogens. Some concern should be given the pathogens and organisms which attack algae, especially Chlorella. Rotofers graze on algae. Viruses can attack. (Meintz 1988) xvii These pathogens can come from the contaminated cultivar, water or nutrition source. Care must be taken to quarantine each input and examine it under laboratory conditions for the presence of pathogens.

The best sources should be selected for cultivars, water and nutrients. Sourcing will be covered in each section below, relating to each element. Nutrition. Spirulina will be grown as a certified organic crop and sold as a food supplement and health aid in organic and health food stores. Nutrition should be sourced from organic producers. Compost tea can be made from organic compost made from manure from organic diaries, from copped straw from organic grain operations, and unsold organics from organic vegetable farms and organic food stores. Nutrition for Chlorella need not be certified organic. Compost tea made from any manure source, carbon sources from crop operations and wood chips will be adequate for Chlorella vulgaris. (Rhyne, 1987) xviii Because most of the world has brackish ground water, choice of algae and its cultural requirements, along with light and temperature, are major determinants of yield. Many desert algae are therefore candidates for use in producing algal oils. (Thomas 1984a) xix Source for spirulina. The nutrition for spirulina will be made from compost tea. The target source of the compost, which is free of pesticides will be Alaskan MagicTM Organic Humus. xx Instrumentation. Several instruments will be needed to test the compost and resulting compost tea. They are:


  • Temperature probe: xxi
  • Dissolved Oxygen Meter: xxii
  • Microscope and microscope manual: xxiii
  • TDS and pH meter and probes: xxiv
  • Alkalinity and salinity: xxv
  • Reagents: xxvi

Testing.

Periodically, samples will be sent to a biological testing laboratory. xxvii
Guidelines: NRCS Nutritional research: xxviii

Sources of nutrition for Spirulina:

The primary source of nutrients for the Spirulina will be waste matter from certified organic dairies and beef feed lots. This manure will be fully composted with raw carbon sources such as certified organic agricultural wastes and bio-wastes from food processing sources and restaurants. Sources of nutrition for Chlorella: The primary nutrients for Chlorella will be both the above as well as organic wastes which have not been exposed to pesticides, herbicides and other toxic chemicals but are not from certified organic sources.


  1. SUNLIGHT REQUIREMENTS FOR PRODUCTION

In order to have continuous production, the photobioreactor will require continuous light. Since the units will be housed in a building, the sunlight requirements cannot be met without some means of transmitting sunlight to the growing surface during daylight hours. Most large scale trials have been outside in open ponds. Generally, researchers concluded that growth slowed then stopped when sunlight was not available. Also, the experiments in Roswell, NM also encountered slow/no growth when the temperatures fell during the night and winter months. The Montana Synergy photobioreactor will use sunlight when available, and when not, they it will use grow lamps powered by generators using our own biodiesel as fuel.


    1. Warm weather production – ponds
Some production can be expected if open ponds can be used. Unused fish ponds or any pond for that matter can be used during the warm months. New ponds can be dug and lined with shot Crete, then covered with a 20 mil pond liner. The ponds can be the race-way design or long, narrow rectangles. The same harvesting system could be used with modification for any shape of the ponds. (Briggs 2004) xxix


    1. Year around – solar collectors
It is a given that during about half of the year, solar energy would not be sufficient to create a mode of full production, even for outdoor ponds. Indoor pans normally would not get any solar energy. The solution is to collect solar energy outdoors, then transmit it to the indoor growing pans, then distribute the solar energy evenly across the surface of the growing medium in the pans. Short days and cloud cover, of course, would reduce the availability of solar energy for collection. Notwithstanding, any solar energy collected and distributed will save on fuel to run the generators. Several types of enclosed, small scale, photobioreactors have accelerated the growth of algae. More types are being developed, such as flat panels (Borowitzka 1999). xxx

A study of sunlight in relationship to growth of Spirulina was conduced in 2005 by researchers in India and Florida State University. Direct solar radiation was observed to the break the filaments. When UV-B was filtered out, while some breakage occurred, the filaments elongated because of fewer spirals per filament length (Wu, et al. 2005). xxxi Plant chlorophyll and leaf area responses to wave bands of sunlight were studied by researchers under a NASA grant. Their findings showed that chrysanthemums, when subjected to varying photosynthetic photon flux, produced more branched and darker green leaves and stems. Some morophogenic responses were obtained by altering the light quality briefly (15-30 minutes) at the end of the day (King, Bagnal 1994). xxxii See report under TAB B. In the 1975 – 1979 period, one of several biophotolysis projects involved overcoming light problems by use optical fiber systems to diffuse light over the growing pans of photobioreactors.

This approach by ERDA/DOE was abandoned as impractical. However optical fiber photobioractors are the centerpiece of a ten plus year study in Japan for CO2 utilization. D(NEDO 1998) xxxiii U. S. DOE and other government funded microalgal research has focused on the use of large open ponds using the raceway design. (Tyson 2004) xxxiv Indeed that system is widely in use today in many countries. xxxv Earthrise Nutritionals, LLC, has a major production facility in Calipatria, Imperial County, CA, using the open pond system. This low desert location has a very long growing season, plenty of Colorado River water, cheap land, and clean air. (Earthrise 2006) xxxvi Sources of CO2 . However, most coal-fired electric plants, which could supply CO2 are in the northern tier states, with short growing seasons and low light conditions in spring and fall. These locations make growing of algae in ponds highly problematical. The main issues are light and temperature. The best solution for both issues is the photobioreactor, either closed or open inside a greenhouse. The light source solution is to build a solar energy system using parabolic reflectors which concentrate the ET into the ends of fiber optic cables. At this point, the spectrum and lux of the light can be controlled. The cables then carry the solar energy to the collecting pans. The solar energy is then distributed as evenly as possible across the surface of the pans. The design proceeds as follows: The location of the solar “farm” should be an area near the hanger and not shaded by any structure. Distance is a function of the cost of the cable, not the transmission losses. Collectors consist of dish parabolic pans made out of fiberglass and reinforced with radial struts and connection points. To the inside is glued a sheet of mylar which is highly reflective.

At the point of greatest concentration of solar energy, fiber optic cables receive the sunlight over the diameter of the bunched fiber optic strands through a quartz rod. Filters will removed IR and UV spectrum of light. Fiber optic cables should be available in considerable quantities from companies which installed the nationwide series of fiber optic systems. The solar energy entering the fiber optic cables is carried to the growing pans inside the hanger. These cable and brought to the Pan Rack and then to each pan, then below the underside of each reverse parabolic reflector. At this point the optical cables in installed below the reflectors, then the strands are teased apart and directed upwards toward a linear parabolic reflector. These reflectors are made from OSB and are 8' long. They nest between the TJI trusses. To the convex side which faces the growing medium, is glued the highly reflective mylar sheet. By aiming the teased apart strands of fiber optics at the reflective surface, the sunlight is reflected downwards and thus spread evenly across the surface of the growing medium.

The “reverse” parabola surface (back side) thus “de-concentrates” the solar energy. Consideration of the final design will include a combination assembly which incorporates dispersal of light onto the reflector by both the optic strands and synthetic illuminator. Sunlight can be concentrated by using the “magnifying glass” principle. The collector dishes will be one meter in diameter. Sunlight intensity will be much higher at the point of entry into the fiber optic cables than if collected by a smaller collector. When the sunlight is discharged at the growing pans, the sunlight will be aimed at the convex side of the “reverse” parabolic reflector which will be about two feet wide and eight feet long and about 1.25 feet deep. Discounting transmission losses for the moment, the intensity of the sun light hitting the surface of the water in the growing pan should be tailored to the exact photobiometical needs of the algae. (Oswald 1960) xxxvii One could vary the intensity of the sunlight by directing the concentrated sunlight into a quartz rod so prevent over-heating of the fiber optic cables or algae. (Readmere 1987) xxxviii

By using color filters at the head of the fiber optical cable, adjustments could be made on the fly to compensate for too high or too low solar light conditions and to select the light frequencies.

The solar energy system generally described above was the subject of a three year study by a consortium of universities and DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, entitled, “Adaptive Full-spectrum Solar Energy Systems (Wood, et. al. 2004). A copy of the full report is under TAB C. (Wood 2004) xxxix

The researchers defined “luminous efficiency and efficacy”:
“Light is visually evaluated radiant power. To determine the amount of luminous power in lumens (lm) provided by a light source, the amount of radiative power at each wavelength is multiplied by the photopic luminous efficiency curve, V(λ), which is plotted in Figure 1.2 on the right vertical axis. The luminous efficiency curve converts radiant power watts (W) to luminous light watts (lW). The total number of light watts for a given SPD are then integrated and multiplied by 683 lumens/lW to yield the luminous power in lumens.” (Wood, 2004, p. 3)

The researchers concluded as to use of imported sunlight for algal growth:
“In this project, the sunlight is collected using a one-meter paraboloidal concentrator dish with two-axis tracking. For the second generation (alpha) system, the secondary mirror is an ellipsoidal mirror that directs the visible light into a bundle of small-core fibers. The IR spectrum is filtered out to minimize unnecessary heating at the fiber entrance region. This report describes the following investigations of various aspects of the system. Taken as a whole, they confirm significant progress towards the technical feasibility and commercial viability of this technology.” (Wood, 2004, p. 9)

The system depends on the long-term (20 years) viability of plastic optical fibers and their efficient operation. Their Hybrid Solar Lighting System tests called for use of three types of optical fibers, with each strand carrying 8000 lumens. The system uses a one meter parabolic mirror, a cold mirror, a bundle of four optic fibers, an IR cut-off filter, a quartz rod to control the temperature at the entrance. The quartz rod also served as a non-imaging device to ensure that all of the fibers received equal illumination. High quality polishing of the cut ends of the fibers and of the ends of the quartz rod were critical to a high lumens transmission. In an earlier investigation 1.5 inch bundle of fibers were tried. This bundle consisted of 126 strands, with each strand having a diameter of 3 mm. The overheating problem from such use led to further investigation of the amount of IR which passed into the system. This researcher would concluded glass fibers should be used rather than plastic ones unless the IR could be filtered out. The researchers also found that epoxy-mounted bundles absorbed heat whereas plastic or aluminum collets absorbed very little. Unwanted contaminants (such as epoxy) embedded in the flat face of the bundle of fibers, resulted in significant heat generation.

The researchers concluded that large bundles of fibers, properly prepared achieved results which were previously unobtainable. Mirrors were sourced from Bennett Mirror Technologies, New Zealand. They were 3 mm, 4.5 mm and 6 mm thick made of acrylic with fiberglass and later with acrylic plastic. Some of these mirrors used in outdoors conditions for ten years showed no noticeable degradation. Sunlight was delivered to the inside of a building, using a hybrid luminary which combined sunlight and conventional electric lights. They found that the sunlight, passing through the optical fibers rendered color indexing, total lumens use, and levels of luminance, can potentially reduce the energy consumption of conventional illumination. The light passing through the fibers does not significantly change the full spectrum of light. (Wood, 2004, p. 30).


An experiment was initiated for 30 gallons of algae by Scalia Laboratory, Ohio University's weather station in Athens, Ohio. The researchers tracked the daily solar flux and correlated it with the previous day's growth (98% correlation). The concluded:
“It is hoped that these experiments can be repeated soon to confirm this. However, it seems intuitive that if the solar collector/distributor system is tuned to produce an optimal photon flux (100-200 µmol m-2s-1), that reducing the daily photon exposure would correspondingly reduce biomass productivity.”Wood, 2004, p.40) The researchers did a small study of Chlorella vulgaris and SC2, an unidentified thermophilic cyanbacterial species collected from Yellowstone Park, as microalgal CO2 biofixation photobioreactors. These reactors were intended to be hooked up to the solar-powered photobioreactor for purposes of sequestration of carbon dioxide. Injection of carbon dioxide and other flue gases was considered to be an efficient means of disposing of the grasses and at the same time, provide some heat.

The researchers found: “The change in biomass over time was monitored using both measurements of optical density and dry weight. For optical density, absorbance at three fixed wavelengths, 438, 540 and 678 nm, were scanned using a Beckman DU640 spectrophotometer (Beckman Instruments, Inc., Fullerton, CA). Four-week long experiments were conducted. Two different light intensities, 212.2 ± 7.0 (S.E.) µmol m-2s-1 and 102.5 ± 1.8 (S.E.) µmol m-2s-1, were used, representing high and low light conditions, respectively.” (Wood, 2204, p. 43).When the experiment concluded, the researchers found that Chlorella vulgaris strain (UTEX 259) did not withstand the elevated temperature of 50 C° and even showed growth limitations at 35 C°. However, the algae grew reasonably well under low and high light conditions at 25 C°. They found slight differences in the dry weight for high light (0.438 g/l) and low light (0.389) conditions. The researchers also examined the adaptability of Chlorella vulgaris sp. UK001 to high CO2 conditions. This specie grew successfully at 10% and could grow at 40% concentrations. Species Chlorella vulgaris sp. T-1 could withstand 100% concentration. Light conditions were also low; as little as 200 µmol m-2s-1. (Wood, 2004, p. 46)

The collector dishes are on a double gimble system. The main frame orients the dish at ninety degrees to the sun's rays. As the sun passes east to west, the sun tracker system operates a rack and pinion system to maintain the collector dishes at 90 degrees to the solar radiation. At sundown, the system automatically repositions itself toward the eastern horizon. Strong winds could be a problem. Two solutions: Build very stout “snow fence” around the solar collector enclosures. A system could be engineered such that when an override signal is given, the pans rotate so that the open face is toward the ground. The convex shape would cause lift as the wind passes over the backside of the pans. The solution is to fix a wind spoiler around the collector farm. This spoiler would be a counter-airfoil and would cause the air flow to go from laminar to confused, thus reducing the impact of the wind on the collector farm. Production rates will be subjected to continuous quality control and monitoring. Measurement of growth can be made by weight by measuring the amount of algae harvested during a given time at a given vacuum rate. Online measurements can also be taken (Cogne, 2001). xl
  1. HARVESTING
Harvesting algae has involved several approaches: settling, removal of pond water, drying and then removing the cake; microstraining, followed by centrifuges, flocculation, screw press, and chemical extraction. (Shelef 1984a) xli The Montana Synergy plan for harvesting is: Each pan will have at one end, a rotating cylinder which spans the 10' width of the pan. It has a perforated outer shell of stainless steel with a poly filter wrapped outside around the shell. This drum sits part-way in the pan water with the bottom of the drum just above the bottom of the pan. A pump draws water into the center of the drum and discharges the water to the pan below or above. Each pan has a drum, which are at opposing ends so that water from one pan is discharged into the “far end” of the neighbor pan, but in reality is just above or below its neighbor, thus avoiding long runs of pipe. As the drum rotates, the suction inside the drum draws algae against the outside of the drum wall which hangs on the outside against the polyfilter. A suction system vacuums the algal paste off the top of the rotating drum. This drum can turn slowly on a continuous basis as the algae will have grown to maturity, closest to the drum and become more concentrated. Algae for food – Spirulina. The algae which is in the vacuum system now becomes a slurry which is transported to a centrifuge. Most of the water is removed. One production line then uses this damp algae concentrate to make the slettuce or is cast into 25 pound blocks and frozen. xlii

The remainder is conveyed to a continuous flow, hot air oven, which removes the rest of the water. Then the cake is ground in to flour and bagged or boxed. Cake which is not of food grade can be fed to animals and used to grow market mushrooms. It would make an excellent product to sell to certified organic farmers. With as many large hangers and other WWII buildings at the airport this location make great sense because the buildings are so old, they are probable not to code for human habitation, but would be legal for agricultural use. We can get the use of these buildings for nearly free during the start-up phase of the operation and then minimal rent plus an override on the total revenue. Agricultural production of mushrooms, poultry, organic fertilizers, worms and other value added ag products can be anticipated. Algae for fuel- Chlorella.

The harvest process is the same for both types of algae to the point of the output from the vacuum. Chlorella vulgaris will the be subjected to the oil extraction process. The cell walls will need to be breached by heat, mechanical means or by chemicals. The latter is the last resort, due to the cost of the chemicals, processing costs and recovery costs, if indeed the chemicals can be recovered. Heat involves added expense and handling. Mechanical means break down the cell walls allowing the lipids granules to escape the cells. By low heating levels in a vat of water, the oil rises to the top and can be skimmed by commercial rope-type skimmers on a continuous process basis. The water used to float the oil does not need changing since the rope skimmers remove the oil and vacuum filter drums remove the solids for use as base food. The same system as used in the growth pans can be employed in the skimming operations. The proposed process uses photosynthesis.

NREL conducted studies of organisms which did not use photosynthesis, yet produced oils suitable for production of biodiesel. (Sheehan 1998) xliii Some of these organisms have oil contents as high as 71%. (Tyson, 2005, p. 48) Crown Iron Works has developed a high yield, continuous extraction process using super-critical CO. (Tyson, 2004, p. 50). This process avoids the use of a catalyst, thus reducing the contamination issues (initial cost, subsequent removal). Testing. Testing for lipid content in the case of Chlorella vulgaris and for food safety in the case of Spirulina, will become important. Near-infra red test instruments hold promise for lipid testing. (Knothe 1999) xliv Flow cytometers also hold promise for lipid analysis. (Berglund 1987) xlv Extraction of lipids. The initial and low cost method of extracting the lipids from Chlorella, is the screw press. After a quantity of raw material is inserted into the press, a motor turns a screw by which torque, squeezes out water and oil. These machines are off-the-shelf and come in a wide variety of configurations for various applications. xlvi Biodiesel cost, price and profit. NREL estimated that the cost of bio-distillation (using basically the same catalytic cracking used for petroleum) runs about 20 to 44 cents a gallon (plus cost of feedstock). (Tyson, 2004, p. iv) Using free WVO, the cost is closer to 80 cents a gallon.

If a beneficial use can be found for raw glycerol, then some cost-offset occurs. The nature and extent of glycerol produced from using algal lipids is as yet unknown to this researcher. Transesterification of algal lipids would follow the same protocol as for WVO. The ratio of ethanol to feedstock oil is 1:5 or 160 gallons of ethanol to 800 gallons of WVO. At the end of the process, one can expect to recover half of the ethanol for reuse. The total consumption of ethanol in a 960 gallon batch would be 80 gallons. Commercial grade ethanol costs $150 per 55 gallon drum or about $2.72 per gallon. $2.72 x 80 = $218 per batch. Twenty percent of the 960 gallon batch is glycerol; the yield, net of ethanol and glycerol per batch is 960 – 80 – 192 = 688 gallons of raw biodiesel. At 80 cents a gallon processing cost, the cost per batch is 688 x .80 = $550. (Tyson, 2004, p. 50) At current, non-taxed diesel prices of $2.27 per gallon, the gross revenue per batch is $2.27 x 688 = $1,562 giving a gross margin of 1,562 – 550 = 1,012 per batch or $1.47 per gallon.

Additional processing (washing, filtration, antioxidants), storage, packaging, labeling and general and administrative costs can be expected to reduce this gross margin by 25%, which would yield a net profit of $1.47 x .75 = $1.10 per gallon. To the extent that self-use would not require these additional costs, algal biodiesel as an alternative to petrodiesel, would create a cost savings of about $1.40 per gallon. Many, if not all, of the published cost analysis has focused on the cost of construction and energy use as the prime costs; only incidentally, did they identify personnel costs as a major contributor. With this in mind, we need to automate the photobioreactor as much as possible. The essential personnel with an automated system would be the manager in the control room; a floor manager who roves, inspecting the operation and taking samples; a lab technician who runs the tests, a warehouseman/mechanic, and a driver. Most of the other adjunct operations would be out-sourced on an as needed basis: financial management and accounting, legal, marketing and sales, major maintenance and repair, and HR.

There is some anxiety in the market place for B20 made from saturated fats. Saturated fats are preferred because they contain less sulfur and tend to produce complete reactions. However, during cold weather, they tend to form grease crystals which plug fuel filters and have some risk of freezing in the tank. One solution during cold weather, is to lower the temperature of a vat of B100 made from saturated fats, thus allowing the grease crystals to form while still in suspension, then filter out the crystals, leaving behind the B100 produced from unsaturated fats which do not as readily form grease crystals. (Tyson, 2004, p.22) The filtered crystals can be reheated and used in the Econo Heat boilers and dehydrators as fuel. xlvii Many novel experiments have yielded promising results for methods which extract fuels from biomass and to refine glycerol. See endnote. xlviii Biodiesel production is part of the oleochemical industry and shares some technology, costs of production and market. As a biodiesel producer, Montana Synergy can expect to make profit from conversion of algal oils into biodiesel. Thus, some knowledge of biodiesel in the family of oleochemical products is important. NREL's summary in the end note is very instructive on this perspective. xlix Part of the problem is what to do with the low-value glycerol. The other part of the problem is to use the glycerol to improve the environment and profit from such use. NREL has some views of this subject. See the endnote. l


  1. ENERGY SOURCE AND APPLICATIONS

Considerable quantities of energy will be generated and consumed in the processing algae. As a continuous production facility and, given the weather, the financial success will depend on being off the grid and not dependent on fossil fuels. Since we will produce our own biodiesel, it makes good sense to use this fuel for generators and to power our vehicles. Electrical power generation will be designed on the principals of combined heat and power. Heat from the exhausts will be extracted by plate heat exchangers, and, using water as the transmission medium, will be transferred to the greenhouses for space heating. Three generators will be employed such that as the load varies, generators can powered up or shut down. By staging the sizes at one third of the anticipated load, one, two or three generators can brought online to more evenly balance the load. Alternatively, a 15, 35 and 50 percent split would allow greater flexibility to more closely meet load conditions. The balance can also be beneficially effected by using General Electric or Generac power conditioning equipment.

Also, pumps can be driven by variable speed motors so as to more exactly fine-tune the water flows and to regulate the air flow through the spranging tubes to facilitate mixing of the nutrients and the algae in the growing pans. Electricity for lighting over the pans will be generated live. Excess generating capacity, if any, will be directed to charge a battery farm. This battery farm will provide area lighting and general operational electrical energy when load requirements are so low as to make use of generators uneconomical. Heat will be needed to improve the growth rate of the algae. The probable range is 25 C° to 40 C° (45 F° - 72 F°). Given the probable heat loss through the skin of the green house at night in the dead of winter, additional heating will be needed on a variable scale. Thermostatic sensors placed in the pans will signal a control panel to start the system. To avoid short-cycling of the boilers, a 5000 gallon energy flywheel will provide immediate heat capacity and buffer the changes in temperature, by allowing the set points to be closer. When the energy flywheel is depleted, the system would fire the boiler (turn on the boiler fuel oil pump, turn on the air supply compressor, open the fuel valve and fire the heat gun electrodes and turn on the circulating water pump; also to reverse this process on shut down).

Fuel for this system will be used vehicle and equipment oil. The primary heating system for the pans will be radiant heating by PEX tubing laid in bottom of the pans. Circulating hot water from the energy flywheels, mediated by variable temperature mixing valves driven by a control panel which receives temperature readings from sensors in the pan water, will regulate the constant temperature. The energy flywheel is a 5000 gallon, insulated tank in which coils of soft copper transmit heat from the boiler to the water (or water/glycol mix), and another set of copper coils transmit the heated water to the PEX tubing. Alternatively, and/or additionally, space heat for the greenhouse can be provided by exhaust from the dehydrators used to dry the Spirulina to a cake for production of flour. These dehydrators may not operate full-time, i.e., when the heat is needed, and are unlikely to provide an even amount of heat over time. Hence, the primary source of heat, here radiant heating, must be reliable. Both the boiler and the dehydrator will be sourced from Econo Heat, Inc., Spokane, WA. Product brochures are in the plastic pouch on the inside rear cover.

As part of the business model for Green Oxy Fuels, LLP, production of biodiesel from waste vegetable oils will continue in order to provide a low cost, reliable source of biodiesel for company use and sale for off-road use. Current technology uses alcohol or methanol. (Biodiesel Solutions, 2006). li Enzymatic solutions are also on our road map for further research and possible adoption. (Chen, unknown date) lii


  1. PRODUCTS – ALGAL FOOD

In addition to slettuce, the Spirulina flower, along with other flours, can be used to make pasta and different mock food products. A pasta plant can be installed in the hanger in a building within the hanger. Again, the hanger provides structural protection against rain, snow and wind. The pasta plant only has to conserve heat in its building, which can be built strong enough to allow for polysheeting – another type of greenhouse. I read where some Dakota farmers has formed a cooperative to make pasta, but is went out of business. Thus that plant might be available at very low cost. They produced pasta as a commodity. The Montana Synergy plan is to sell directly to the consumer by catalogue and e-commerce through our website. We will also sell to food cooperatives, use community supported agricultural groups (CSA's) and attend farmer's markets with our slettuce, pasta and other products. Our products will be high in omega 3's, high in protein and will provide for carbohydrates and fiber.

Thus, our operation will aid the local grain farmers by using the Durham wheat in the pastas. We could eventually include a seed oil crushing plant so as to process local seed oil grains, create additional flower for retail or animal feed and vegetable oil for production of biodiesel. The cake feed would increase the meat and egg production in the local areas. This researcher was fortunate to be part of a student-led marketing project. Dr. Jakki Mohr, Professor, School of Business, University of Montana, as part of her marketing course, accepted the choice of assignment by two of her students, Kaila Johnson and Aaron Curtis, to conduct marketing studies and prepare a marketing plan for the sale of Spirulina as a food product. Their abstract follows and their complete study is found under TAB D, along with their Marketing Proposal and Power Point Presentation. Many thanks to Dr. Mohr, and to Kaila and Aaron for their excellent contributions.- Montana Synergy, LLP A product, target and distribution analysis EXECUTIVE SUMMARY [As edited by James E. Miller.] Montana Synergy is an upcoming company that aims to sell its blue green algae, spirulina, directly to consumers. Currently, the company is cultivating a business plan to organize the production methods and structure of the business. As spirulina can be sold as a product itself or as a complement to other products, or to both markets. Montana Synergy must need not choose one or the other . How Montana Synergy chooses to sell its spirulina, either as an ingredient or to as a ready-to-use version of the product, can be adjusted as the market acceptance rate increases or wanes and as the ROI changes.

Our goal is to provide Montana Synergy with the ideal spirulina product form that has an effective, reachable target market. To select the optimal spirulina product, we researched an array of products that could be enhanced by adding spirulina. The relevant product categories include: supplements, nutritional protein bars, functional beverages, solid vegetarian foods, mock food, cosmetics, and animal feed. Following our research and marketing analysis we feel that spirulina as an animal feed additive will produce the beneficial product form to Montana Synergy. Spirulina has been adopted as a feed additive for many animals, but poultry feed presents an attainable target market as it is relevant to Montana Synergy being located in Montana. In the early phase of spirulina production, Montana Synergy can utilize Farmer’s Markets and Community Supported Agriculture to sell directly to retail customers. Commercial sales, such as to poultry farmers as a feed additive. , can be sold by direct mail, direct email and advertising in trade journals.

Once production is perfected and quality amounts of spirulina are produced Montana Synergy should look for larger sources to distribute its product. A consistent manufacturer of poultry feed would create an outlet for Montana Synergy to distribute the spirulina. Montana Synergy’s distribution strategy is to be engaged with the product from the growth of spirulina, to the production of the various products, and finally distribution to the end user. This is a very important decision that Montana Synergy should take into great consideration.


8. SALES

Montana Synergy should strive to sell direct to the consumer, rather than treating our products as just another commodity. The end users of the Spirulina flours are bakeries sold in bulk containers, and flour packaged for consumers and sold by mail, e-commerce, CSA's, farmers' markets. Years ago, Olympia Bread sold door-to-door by having bread trucks drive through residential neighborhoods and announced their presence by a distinctive bell. This old method of sales, might be just the right type to renew in compact residential neighborhoods, especially if conducted in connection with the farmers' market and CSA operations. The concept is a traveling deli with plenty of foods and pre-prepared meals and main courses, all frozen or in some cases, dried. During the shopping time (11:00 to about 5:00 p.m), the traveling deli could be parked in the parking lot of a shopping center, with permission of the shopping center owner, or in a church or school parking lot. Outside of these hours, the van would travel the residential streets. Sales will be transacted using Point of Sale computer system. We could also sell using credit cards. For this use, we would have to have phone service. liii The printed matter on the wrapper of all wrapped products should tell the “history” of the product and the producer – a story not unlike we see once in a while on dry cereal boxes. There are plenty of students, retired folks and low income persons who would benefit from driving the deli van. They would get paid in food and cash. Montana Synergy could also be formed is a communitarian intentional community, where all of the workers are owners and all of the owners are workers. I have diligently studied this subject and have many papers on how to organize and manage a self-sufficient, sustainable, rural, intentional community. This author's article, SOLVE CUSTOMER PROBLEMS -- How affordable and accessible can Spirulina become?, is the last document under TAB D.

  1. CAPITAL

There are grant and loan funds available for the pilot project and the startup. Self-generated capital will be used for the initial capital for planning and permitting, feasibility and some engineering. This startup funding will come from the operations of Green Oxy Fuels, LLP. The objective of this company is to produce biodiesel from waste vegetable oil from MSU's kitchen fryers. In addition to government and foundation grants and loans, a capital subscription to create a cooperative would seem to be a successful way to raise larger amounts capital. This second step would follow the creation of the working drawings, the initial organizational work and securing the location for the project.


  1. ORGANIZATION

Montana Synergy, LLP, will be formed as a Montana Limited Liability partnership. Membership will have two parts. The “personal” membership would cost $1,000.00 which would carry the right to vote for the partners constituting the governing council of partners. A second class, “capital” membership, would be based on capital contributions and would provide for one vote for every $5,000 of capital contributed. The capital would receive from fifty percent of the net profits, a proportional share equal to the amount each holder has to the total of all capital contributed. The amount of capital membership is merely a bookkeeping entry and would be subject to Federal and State securities laws. The two classes would have rights defined in the partnership agreement.


  1. ADMINISTRATION
12. Accounting.
QuickBooks by Intuit offers the best fit. The software is available in a hosted, online, browser application of several flavors from stand-alone to full-sized enterprise applications. This popular software is generally user friendly, is well supported, and is reasonable and price. Under Plan A, we would buy the enterprise edition. Under Plan B, we would use the online edition. liv


  1. Legal.
Montana Synergy, LLP, will be a limited liability partnership, formed under the laws of the State of Montana.


  1. Financial.
Two future capitalization and operational budgets are yet to be researched. The first one is the fast, large startup (Plan A) and the second one, the small, slow startup (Plan B).


  1. FUTURE STUDIES

The NREL report made many useful recommendations, the primary one was the use of distillation for conversion of bio oil feedstock into biodiesel. This recommendation points this researcher in that direction and adds a note of caution to any large-scale deployment of transesterification production. See the end note. lv


  1. SCHEDULE

The schedule would be to develop the operations and business of Green Oxy Fuels, LLP, and start generating profits. From these profits, funding for the initial activities leading to the formation of Montana Synergy, LLP, will be derived. In the second phase, when the pilot plant is in operation and the marketing plan has been proven to be successful, then the major plant can be financed by the second wave of owner/workers, most of whom will contribute capital. We will seek owner/workers from among these classes: grain growers, farmers, animal meat and egg producers, CSA members and industrial consumers, such as bakeries and food markets. We should avoid absentee equity investors, banks and other lenders. I am the in-house lawyer (not licensed in Montana, but in California). We will have to hire a licensed Montana securities attorney when the time comes, to issue the opinion and do the securities work. I will do the due diligence and draft all documents, under that attorney's supervision.

Compliance with securities laws will be based on a private offering to fewer than 35 persons with whom the promoters have prior substantial personal or business relationships. The formation of Montana Synergy and its initial memberships can be accomplished in about 90 days. During this time applications for loans and grants can be prepared and submitted. At the end of December, when I graduate, I plan to work at a local job until the cash flow from Green Oxy Fuels is sufficient to go full time, making biodiesel. During this time, I will form Montana Synergy and concluded the necessary agreements and grants or loans for the pilot project. Respectfully submitted,


James E. Miller, J.D. P. O. Box 1172, Belgrade, MT 59714 jimmiller5417@yahoo.com Cell: 406-600-2411 December 13, 2006
final12/13/06; WORD COUNT: 17.244

END NOTES

i
Tyson, K. Shaine, et al. Biomass Oil Analysis: Research Needs and Recommendations,National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, United States Department of Energy, Report NREL/TP-510-34796, June, 2004, p. i.
ii
Natural Colorants High Value Food Colorant Phycocyanin, from Spirulina Platensis Madhavi S. Revankar1, Harshal H. Kshirsagar2, and Smita S. Lele1. (1) Food and Fermentation Technology Department, University Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India, (2) Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
“Spirulina platensis was cultivated in SOT medium pH 9.2 under optimal conditions in shaker flask and in GIMAP. The biomass obtained was 3.56g/l in 25 days in shaker flask cultivation and 4.4g/l in 15 days in GIMAP. When cultivated in GIMAP, due to hydrodynamic stress, part of the phycocyanin was extracted by changing pH (from 9.2 to 7.0) without cell-lysis. In addition, phycocyanin was extracted by conventional methods using sonication and was purified by ion exchange chromatography. Spirulina is known to contain 20% (by weight) of phycocyanin of which 95% was recovered in the present work. Stability studies indicated that phycocyanin was stable over a pH range of 5.5-7 and a temperature range of 4-40oC. The blue colorant obtained could be used in various food systems like Lassi (Indian yogurt-shake) and jellies.”
Journal of Biotechnology, Volume 70, Issues 1-3 , 30 April 1999, Pages 313-321; persistent link: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T3C-3WP2HJY-15&_user=5146153&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F1999&_alid=470331845&_rdoc=4&_fmt=summary&_orig=search&_cdi=4943&_sort=d&_st=4&_docanchor=&_acct=C000053128&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=5146153&md5=8e678e996d93179381179fdec70508da
iii

MEAT PROCESSING GLOBAL – WWW.MEATNEWS.COM MAY/JUNE 2006, p 26 INCREDIENTS - By Pia Mauates Algae as Alimentary All-rounders.
From ancient regional traditions to new food product trends worldwide, algae are becoming the culinary trend setters.

On the dining tables in Japan and France, aquatic algae are consumed in tonnes. Whether stewed or fried, whether in the form of soup or noodles, or as a flavoring mix on the side, in recent years, algae have clearly advanced to the status of culinary trend setters. Viewed from a worldwide perspective, the use of algae as a leguminous food makes for the biggest share of this market in terms of both value and volume. This segment does, in fact, account for about two thirds of the total production, with Asiatic countries, where direct algoid food consumption is high, ranking on top. This is a statistical fact which comes as little surprise, because people in that region have not only known algae for many thousands of years, but they have also come to really appreciate them thanks to the many nutritious and sensory qualities they bring to food preparation. Consumption of algae as a direct food has been a relatively unimportant factor in the western industrialised countries for a long period of time, but recent years have seen a distinct rise in consumer preference in this respect as well. In a more general context, however, it should be noted that, in this part of the world, algae have found frequent use as a food ingredi­ent ever since the sixties, even though most often as a direct result of their techno-functional capabilities. Immense diversity in type and kind Algae are among the oldest organisms existing on our planet and can justifiably be classified as the bio-ancestral forerunners of life on earth. Among many other places of discovery, petrified remnants have been found in Wales, their age estimated at some 540 million years. Algae generally can be found in both salt and fresh water, with huge intra-groupal differences known to exist. MEAT PROCESSING GLOBAL - www.meatneW5.com May/June 2006 27 Take the monocellular microalgae for example, which are microscopically small, while their seaweed/macroalgae counterparts can be up to 50 meters in length. To the human eye, individual types mainly differ in terms of their colorants which, in turn, explains their botanical classification into blue, green, brown and red algae. Their diversity is nothing but gorgeous with some 30,000 to 40,000 different species and/or subspecies estimated to exist. Algae are so-called photosynthetic organisms, which produce their organic molecules from minerals, water, and carbon dioxide. This means that they also produce large amounts of oxygen as a result. As the first link in oxygen production on earth, cyanobacteria (blue or blue-green algae), therefore, also constitute the first link to animal life. Human health sourced from the sea Given their existence as aquatic organisms, algae draw a huge mineral wealth from the sea which, in turn, holds a great diversity, including mineral substances such as sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium or phosphorus, together with such trace elements as iodine, iron, zinc, copper, sele­nium, fluorine or manganese. In short, no other products of nature are as rich in minerals, trace elements, amino acids and vitamins as algae. Red, brown and green algae come with an average of 30 to 36 per cent mineral content in their dry matter, in which far more than 80 different elements can be scientifically identified. In food processing and manufacturing, algae's protein content is of particular technological importance, too. In this context it must not be forgotten, however, that different spe­cies bring highly different protein quantities to the processing job: while the protein concentration of brown algae is only in a range from 5 to 11 per cent, some of their red counterparts offer a content of between 30 to 40 per cent, with the qual­ity of protein delivered comparable to that of such highly proteinaceous plants as soybeans. Spirulina (a freshwater microalgae) for example, with its high protein content of about 70 per cent in the dry matter, is, among other applications, particularly popular as a valuable supplemental additive in human food manufacturing. 28 May/June 2006 MEAT PROCESSING GLOBAL First reports of algae being used as a human food originate from China, dating back to the year 2500 Be. But it was only in the 17th century that these marine plant species were cultivated in Japan to a larger extent. Returning to earlier times, these marine plants were also known in ancient Greece, even though their use was mostly as a medicinal remedy against helminthiasis (Le. infestation with parasitic worms). More into the medieval era, algoid foods were used to feed the poorest for a long time in several European regions. And in dire times of need, people living in coastal regions again and again cultivated algae as a livestock feed, placing rocks in inter-tidal areas to chiefly grow the fungus species. In addition, and dating back to the 16th century, people would routinely col­lect algae during the ebb tide interval, drying them to be used as fertilizer on the fields, a process, which in essence, is still proving its practical worth in this day and age. Back to the human food chain, some 3 to 3.6 million tonnes of algae are currently harvested annually worldwide, with species coming from Europe and America being further processed into the most varied algae-based products. Demand for these types of substances has, in fact, shown a 25 per cent year-on-year in­crease, currently reaching a level of far more than 350,000 tonnes per annum. Over and above the more classical preparation into a leguminous foodstuff or a seasoning ingredient, algae have also established themselves as a base material for different additives being used in today's food industry. In bio-technological detail, the polysaccharide algin or alginic acid (E-400), formed in the cellular walls, is the structure-building element of brown algae. The intracellular gel matrix gives the alga both its flexibility and its firmness. Algin is typically obtained as a by-product, when the wet process is employed to recover iodine from marine algae. But for use in and by the food industry, it is also directly extracted from brown algae, with its salts generally referred to as alginates which, in turn, are primarily used as thickening and! or gelling agents. Apart from sodium alginate (E-401), potassium alginate (E-402), ammonium alginate (E-403), calcium alginate (E-404) and propylene-glycol alginate (E-405) are the alginic acid salts most often used in food manufacture. The viscosity of alginate solutions is primarily a dependent function of the molecular weight and the respective gegenion (a compensating ion), while its increase is first and foremost brought about by the presence and concentration of polyvalent cations (e.g. calcium) and the concentration in which they occur. It follows that viscosity can be readily adjusted to the specific level desired in any given case; and with calcium ions added in an accurately targeted manner, or by slightly acidifying sodium alginate solutions, gels, fibers and filmy sheets can be produced. In and by themselves, alginates are highly effective inspissating (thickening), stabilising and gelling agents. Used in concentrations between 0.25 and 0.5 per cent, they work to improve the stability of salad sauces, gravies, soups, bakery product fillings, and various types of convenience foods as well. Agar-agar is yet another polysaccharide or, more precisely, a galactose polymer capable of forming gelatin. Produced from the cellular walls of some red algae or seaweed species, its use extends to numerous fields, with that of agar-based bacterial substrates one of the most widely known applications. As for use in the food industry, agar-agar's almost total indigestibility, its stabilising ef­fects plus an ability to form heat-resistant gels are seen as the most significant properties. More specifically, it is frequently employed in making sherbets and ice creams, most often in a 0.1 per cent dosage in combination with carob bean gum or gelatin. Dosages in the 0.1 to 1.0 per cent range are typical when agar is used with yogurt, cheese, sweets and bakery products; and finally, agar-agar is also employed to assist with preventing bread products from becoming stale too quickly. Carrageenan, a complex mixture of different polysaccharides, is also obtained from red algae by extraction with hot water un­der slightly alkaline conditions, with drying or precipitation the subsequent step. When fractional precipitation of potassium ions is employed as an additional processing step, carrageenan can then be separated into various fractions which, comprising differ­ent monosaccharide building blocks, also differ in their solubility. Among those commercially used are the lambda-, kappa- and iota­type carrageenans, with the inherent properties most conducive to a given application determined by the specific type. As such, and in the presence of potassium and calcium ions, the kappa- and iota-types unfold their gelling activities, with kappa-carrageenans leading up to stiff and thermoreversible gels tending to produce synerisis, i.e. the separation of liquid from gel as a result of con­traction. By adding water-soluble hydrocolloids, the structure of such gels can be materially improved. By contrast, synerisis is not encountered in the presence of iota-type carrageenans which are relatively weak in their gelling ability at that, while those of the lambda-type are not capable of forming gels at all. As for the use of carrageenan in today's food processing practice, cooked ham manufacturing is clearly the single most important field of application. In which connection, those of the kappa-type are particularly appropriate because of their solid gel structure which, after cooling, makes for good, firm-cutting sliceability and strong binding in the finished product. Looking somewhat further down the line, aquaculture is cer­tainly in for a very promising future. For one thing, microalgae's productivity is beyond comparison: with their growth rate 10 times that of geophytes (soil-borne plants), their use potential in such diverse segments as human health and the environment is noth­ing but enormous. For another, a great number of companies in various fields of industry have already discovered microalgae for their own business terrain: those tiny little fingerlings can be used to clean our air and water, to supplement human food, or to serve as a highly valuable cosmetic personal care product. Added to this is the fact that algae can even be employed as a future source of energy: reports have it that photosynthetic micro­algae may, for example, be instrumental in converting biohydrogen to a form of energy that can be used in everyday practice. But some of those innovative developments are likely not to materialize soon, because efficient mass production of algoid substances is currently still lacking. While this is so, the food industry could already be in for a virtual algae boom even before regular mass production gets underway. The reason for this is that these monocellular organisms contain tryptophane, a substance used by the human body to produce serotonin - the hormone of happiness, that is - and so a real reason to get algae mass production up to speed. MPG

May/June - www.meatness.com

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Sheehan, et al. July 1998. A Look Back at the UNITED STATES Department of Energy's Aquatic Species; Program: Biodiesel from Algae Close-Out Report. NREL/TP-580-24190, p.11.

v
Lewin, R. A.; (1985) “Production of hydrocarbons by micro-algae, isolation and characterization of new and potentially useful algal strains.” Aquatic Species Program Review: Proceedings of the March 1985 Principal Investigators' Meeging, Solar Energy Research Institute, Golden, Colorado, SERI/CP-213-2700; pp. 43-51.
vi
Sommerfeld, M.; Ellingson, S.; tyler. P. (1987b) “Screening microalgaeisolated from the southwest for growth potential and lipid yield.” FY 1987 Aquatic Species Program Annual Report (Johnson, D. A.; Sprague, S.,eds.), Solar Energy Research Institute, Golden, Colorado; SERI/SP-231-3206; pp. 43-57.
vii
Sheehan (1998), p. ii.
viiiChanging Technologies, Inc.; www.changingtechnologies.com “What is the energy efficiency for producing biodiesel? Based on a report by the US DOE and USDA entitled "Life Cycle Inventory of Biodiesel and Petroleum Diesel for Use in an Urban Bus"5, biodiesel produced from soy has an energy balance of 3.2:1. That means that for each unit of energy put into growing the soybeans and turning the soy oil into biodiesel, we get back 3.2 units of energy in the form of biodiesel. That works out to an energy efficiency of 320% (when only looking at fossil energy input - input from the sun, for example, is not included). The reason for the energy efficiency being greater than 100% is that the growing soybeans turn energy from the sun into chemical energy (oil). Current generation diesel engines are 43% efficient (HCCI diesel engines under development, and heavy duty diesel engines have higher efficiencies approaching 55% (better than fuel cells), but for the moment we'll just use current car-sized diesel engine technology). That 3.2 energy balance is for biodiesel made from soybean oil - a rather inefficient crop for the purpose. Other feedstocks such as algaes can yield substantially higher energy balances, as can using thermochemical processes for processing wastes into biofuels (such as the thermal depolymerization process pioneered by Changing World Technologies). Such approaches can yield EROI values ranging from 5-10, potentially even higher.” Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae, Michael Briggs, University of New Hampshire, Physics Department (revised August 2004), http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html; accessed July 11, 2006.
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Nagle, N.;Chelf, P.; Lemke, P.; Barclay, B; (1987) “Conversion of lipids to liquide fuels by natural enzymatic ;pretreatment.” Energy from Biomass and Wastgas XII, Conference Proceeding (Klass, D.L., ed.) Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, pp. 1107-1115.
x

xi
Laws, E. A. (1984b) “Research and development of shallow algal mass culture systems for the production of oils.” Final Report; Solar Energy Research Institute, Golden, Colorado. SERI/SP-231-2496.
xii
ARCO/POLYMERS, INC. Tufflite III, 20' X 110' Tubing (620-T3-T) supplied by A M Leonard, Inc., 6665 Spiker Road, Piqua, Ohio, 45356, 1-800-543-9855, 128 pounds, $248.95. Available in 150 ' lengths. R4 rolls, 10% off. Also available in 6 mil, 40' x 100' “natural” $106.90. 4 rolls,10% discount.
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Barkclay,; W. R.; Terry, K.L.; Nagle, N. J.; Weissman, J. C.; Goebel, R. P. (1987) “Potential of new strains of marine and inland saline-adapted microalgae for aquaculture.” J. World Aquaculture Soc. 18:218-228.
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Ryther, J.H.; DeBusk, R. A. (1982) “Significance of carbon dioxide and bicarbonate-carbon uptake in marine biomas production.” Energy from BiomassandWastes VI, Conference Proceedings, (Klass, D. I., ed.)Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, pp. 221-233.
xv
Usui, N.; Ikenouchi, M. (1997) “The biological CO2 fixation and utilization project by RITE(1) highly effective photobioractor system.” Energy Conversion Management. 38: suppl. 487-492.
xvi
Zeiler, K.G.; Kadam, K. L. (1994) “Biological trapping of carbon dioxide.” Draft Milestone Completion Report, National Renewable Energy Laboratory,Golden, Colorado.
xvii
Meints, R. H.; Burbank, D.E.; Van Etten, J.L.; Lamport, D.T.A. (1988) “Properties of the Chlorella vulgaris receptor for the PBCV-1 virus.” Virology 164:15-21.
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Rhyne, C. (1987b) “Nutritional requirements for maximal growth of oil production microalgae”, FY 1986 Aquatic Species Program Annual Report, (Johnson, D.A. Sprague, S., eds), Solar Energy Research Institute, Golden Colorado, SERI/SP-231-3206, pp. 92-107.
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Thomas, W. H.; Seibert, D.L.R.; Alden, M.; Eldredge, P. (1984a) “Cultural requirements, yields, and light utilization efficiencies of some desert saline microalgae.” Aquatic Species Program Review: Proceedings of the April, 1984 Principal Investigators' Meeting, Solar Energy Research Institute, Golden, Colorado, SERI/CP-231-2341; pp. 7-63.
xx
Alaskan MagicTM Organic Humus from Earth Fortification Supplies Company http://www.earthfort.com/shopexd.asp?id=44. They state:
“Alaskan Magic Organic Humus has slowly matured over 10,000 years of post ice age humification, enhanced by Alaska's long dark winters and short intense summers. This natural product contains thousands of species of beneficial bacteria and fungi necessary for soil biology and chemistry. Unlike manufactured commercial compost, Alaskan Magic is guaranteed not to have any pesticides, E. coli, chemical impurities or foreign residues.” Price: $250 for 1500 lbs.
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Earth Fortification Supplies Company http://www.earthfort.com/shopexd.asp?id=46 48” temperature probe
Price: $200
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Earth Fortification Supplies Company Extech Dissolved Oxygen Meter http://www.earthfort.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=14&cat=Instruments+
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Optics Planet http://www.opticsplanet.net/labalquasob.html LABOROSCOPE AL-3000 Trinocular Microscope, BF
$1,900
Microscope manual: Soil Foodweb, Inc: http://www.soilfoodweb.com/02_resources/microscp_manual.html

Book Description
“Dr. Ingham created this manual in response to a growing need to analyze the quality of Compost Tea. This guide along with a suitable microscope can provide you with the needed results your business requires. It takes the guess work out of the process of evaluating compost tea.” Source: Earth Fort, Price: earthfort.com

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Hanna Instruments Hanna GroCheck TDS and pH Meter http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000CNKZLE/nextag-lawngarden-20/ref=nosim
Price: $210
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Hanna Instruments Reagents: http://www.hannainst.com/products/accsries/reagents.cfm Calcium + Magnesium, EDTA method
Range: >0 meq/L Calcium + Magnesium
Reagents
HI 38081-100 Reagent kit; 100 tests
(calcium + magnesium) Carbon dioxide, base titration method
Range: 0 to 10 mg/L (ppm) CO2
0 to 50 mg/L (ppm) CO2
0 to 100 mg/L (ppm) CO2
Reagents
HI 3818-100 Reagent kit; 100 tests (carbon dioxide) Nitrate (soil + irrigation), cadmium
reduction method
Range: 0 to 60 mg/L (ppm) NO3--N
Reagents
HI 38050-100 Reagent kit; 100 tests (nitrate) Oxygen, Dissolved, Winkler method
Range: 0 to 10 mg/L (ppm) O2
Reagents
HI 3810-100 Reagent kit; 100 tests (D.O.) Phosphate, ascorbic acid method
Range: 0 to 1.0 mg/L (ppm) PO43–, orthophosphate
0 to 5.0 mg/L (ppm) PO43–, orthophosphate
0 to 50 mg/L (ppm) PO43–, orthophosphate
Reagents
HI 38061-100 Reagent kit; 100 tests (phosphate) Potassium, Turbidimetric method
Range: 0 to 50 mg/L (ppm) Potassium
50 to 250 mg/L (ppm) Potassium
Reagents
HI 38082-100 Reagent kit; 100 tests (potassium)
Soil analysis, Ned (N), ascorbic acid (P),
tetraphenylborate (K), pH indicators
(pH) methods
Range: traces, low, medium, high (nitrogen)
traces, low, medium, high (phosphorus)
traces, low, medium, high (potassium)
4 to 9 (pH)
Reagents
HI 3896-025 Reagent kit; 25 tests (N, P, K, pH) Sulfite, iodometric titration method
Range: 0 to 20 mg/L (ppm) Na2SO3
0 to 200 mg/L (ppm) Na2SO3
Reagents
HI 3822-100 Reagent kit; 100 tests (sulfite) Prices: Pending






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Soil Foodweb, Inc. How to sample compost: http://www.soilfoodweb.com/01_services/sampling/03_compost_submission.htm How to sample compost tea: http://www.soilfoodweb.com/01_services/sampling/04_compost_tea_submsn.htm
xxviii
NRCS sources for nutritional soil resources studies and research: http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/publications/resources.html

NRCS Web Pages

University Web Sites

Other Web Sites


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Based on the research by NREL, it appears that large scale production using open ponds (raceway design) is not economically feasible. One researcher concluded:
“The operating costs (including power consumption, labor, chemicals, and fixed capital costs (taxes, maintenance, insurance, depreciation, and return on investment) worked out to $12,000 per hectare. That would equate to $46.2 billion per year for all the algae farms, to yield all the oil feedstock necessary for the entire country. Compare that to the $100-150 billion the US spends each year just on purchasing crude oil from foreign countries, with all of that money leaving the US economy. **** “While the work on algae for fuel production done in the 1980s and 1990s focused almost entirely on the simple open pond approach, most groups now working in this field (including our collaboration) have shifted to focusing on the use of proprietary photobioreactors.” Michael Briggs, Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae, University of New Hampshire, Physics Department (revised August 2004), http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html; accessed July 11, 2006.
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Borowitzka, Michael A. Commercial production of microalgae: ponds, tanks, tubes and fermenters; Algae Research Group, School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia;
“Abstract The commercial culture of microalgae is now over 30 years old with the main microalgal species grown being Chlorella and Spirulina for health food, Dunaliella salina for β-carotene, Haematococcus pluvialis for astaxanthin and several species for aquaculture. The culture systems currently used to grow these algae are generally fairly unsophisticated. For example, Dunaliella salina is cultured in large (up to approx. 250 ha) shallow open-air ponds with no artificial mixing. Similarly, Chlorella and Spirulina also are grown outdoors in either paddle-wheel mixed ponds or circular ponds with a rotating mixing arm of up to about 1 ha in area per pond.
The production of microalgae for aquaculture is generally on a much smaller scale, and in many cases is carried out indoors in 20–40 l carboys or in large plastic bags of up to approximately 1000 l in volume. More recently, a helical tubular photobioreactor system, the BIOCOIL™, has been developed which allows these algae to be grown reliably outdoors at high cell densities in semi-continuous culture. Other closed photobioreactors such as flat panels are also being developed. The main problem facing the commercialization of new microalgae and microalgal products is the need for closed culture systems and the fact that these are very capital intensive. The high cost of microalgal culture systems relates to the need for light and the relatively slow growth rate of the algae. Although this problem has been avoided in some instances by growing the algae heterotrophically, not all algae or algal products can be produced this way.” Copyright © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V; doi:10.1016/S0168-1656(99)00083-8
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Wu, Hongyan; Watanabe, Teruo; Helbling, E. Walter; Gao, Kunshan; Villafañe, Virginia E. Effects of Solar UV Radiation on Morphology and Photosynthesis of Filamentous Cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis; Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2005 Sep., v. 71, no. 9, p. 5004-5013.
“To study the impact of solar UV radiation (UVR) (280 to 400 nm) on the filamentous cyanobacterium Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis, we examined the morphological changes and photosynthetic performance using an indoor-grown strain (which had not been exposed to sunlight for decades) and an outdoor-grown strain (which had been grown under sunlight for decades) while they were cultured with three solar radiation treatments: PAB (photosynthetically active radiation [PAR] plus UVR; 280 to 700 nm), PA (PAR plus UV-A; 320 to 700 nm), and P (PAR only; 400 to 700 nm). Solar UVR broke the spiral filaments of A. platensis exposed to full solar radiation in short-term low-cell-density cultures.
This breakage was observed after 2 h for the indoor strain but after 4 to 6 h for the outdoor strain. Filament breakage also occurred in the cultures exposed to PAR alone; however, the extent of breakage was less than that observed for filaments exposed to full solar radiation. The spiral filaments broke and compressed when high-cell-density cultures were exposed to full solar radiation during long-term experiments.
When UV-B was screened off, the filaments initially broke, but they elongated and became loosely arranged later (i.e., there were fewer spirals per unit of filament length). When UVR was filtered out, the spiral structure hardly broke or became looser.” Persistent link: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=agr&AN=IND43742030&loginpage=login.asp&site=ehost-live. Also: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=28&hid=115&sid=3f788b39-7310-4b84-ae0a-8747132ba134%40sessionmgr103
xxxii
King, R.W. And Bagnall, D. J. Phytochrome, Plant Growth and Flowering, International Lighting in Controlled Environments Workshop T.W.Tibbitts (editor) 1994 NASA-CP-95-3309.
ABSTRACT
“Attempts to use artificially lit cabinets to grow plants identical to those growing in sunlight have provided compelling evidence of the importance of light quality for plant growth. Changing the balance of red (R) to far-red (FR) radiation, but with a fixed photosynthetic input can shift the phytochrome photoequilibrium in a plant and generate large differences in plant growth. With FR enrichment the plants elongate, and may produce more leaf area and dry matter (see Smith, 1994 these proceedings). Similar morphogenic responses are also obtained when light quality is altered only briefly (15-30 min) at the end-of-the-day (Ballare 1994; these proceedings). Conversely, for plants grown in natural conditions the response of plant form to selective spectral filtering has again shown that red and far-red wavebands are important as found by Kasperbauer and coworkers (Kasperbauer, 1992). Also, where photosynthetic photon flux densities (PPFD) of sunlight have been held constant, the removal of far-red alone alters plant growth (Mortensen and Stromme 1987; McMahon et al., 1991). As shown in Table 1 for chrysanthemum, with FR depletion plants grown in sunlight are small, more branched and darker green. Here we examine the implications for plant growth and flowering when the far-red composition of incident radiation in plant growth chambers is manipulated. TABLE 1. Influence of filtered sunlight on growth and flowering of chrysanthemum cv Yellow Mandalay in long days of summer. Adapted from McMahon et al. (1991). Significant differences; * p = 0.05 or ** p = 0.01 vs control
  • R:FR ratio 655-665 nm vs 725-735 nm
  • Pfr:Ptot calculated over 350 to 850 nm


“FAR-RED ENRICHMENT AND PLANT GROWTH IN ARTIFICIALLY LIT CHAMBERS As with spectral filtering of sunlight, differences in the R:FR ratio of light in growth chambers can lead to large effects on growth (Figs 1, 2). Here PPFD was held constant across the two chambers (560 mols m-2s-1) and there were no major thermal differences, leaf temperatures across the chambers being within 1 to 2° C. Thus, the greater stem elongation with mixed metal halide/quartz halogen versus fluorescent lamps (Fig. 1) can be most simply explained as a phytochrome mediated response to FR enrichment. This FR-induced change was not driven by photosynthesis as stem elongation increased rapidly especially in sunflower (< 1 week, Fig. 1) and preceded by 1-2 weeks any increase in dry matter accumulation and leaf area production. To reiterate, there was firstly a change in plant form (Fig. 1), then later a change in dry weight indicating an initial photomorphogenically-driven increase in leaf area with subsequent photosynthetic increase, a conclusion suggested by Smith and coworkers from their studies over the last decade (see Smith 1994). On the other hand, photosynthetic capacity and/or leaf assimilate export could respond directly to FR enrichment. Chow, Anderson and coworkers have reported many FR effects on photosynthetic light harvesting pigment components particularly of young pea seedlings and these responses can result in slightly increased CO2 exchange rates per unit leaf area (Chow et al., 1990). Surprisingly large effects on dry matter allocation to roots were observed as a consequence of FR enrichment (see Figure 2). Root growth has not always been measured in these types of experiment (e.g. Tibbitts et al., 1983) but there could also be a trivial explanation for the data summarized in Figure 2. Greater dry matter allocation to the roots was evident only at the last ( week 4) harvest. For tomato, for example, the root:shoot ratio doubled to 0.53 over the last week of growth in FR-enriched conditions whereas in the R-rich cabinet it remained at ca 0.3. However, this dry matter reallocation occurred when total dry matter was also increasing exponentially. Thus, the rapid increase in leaf assimilate supply may have temporarily exceeded stem demand leading to a shunting of assimilate to the roots and a transient shift in the root:shoot dry weight balance in FR-enriched conditions. Further studies are needed of responses of roots to FR-enriched conditions especially since our findings with tomato are the opposite of those noted earlier by Kasperbauer (1992) where only end-of-day light quality was altered.”
xxxiii
(NEDO) New Energy Development Organiztion, Ministry of Internatonal Trade and Industry, quoted in Sheehan, 1998, pp. 161, 257. This microalgal photofixaction program of closed photobioreactors enabled the researchers to supply diffused light to the microalgae, and the modulate the utilization of CO2. The goals of the program were to reduce land utilization, recycle CO2 rather than dump it in the ocean or bury it, and to develop high value coproducts.
xxxiv
Tyson, 2004, p. 261.
xxxv
Spirulina Source http://www.spirulinasource.com/earthfoodch7b.html
xxxvi
Earthrise, Persistent link (2006), http://www.earthrise.com/home.asp
xxxvii
Oswald, W.J.; Golueke, C.G. (1960) “biological transformation of solar energy.” Adv. Appl. Microbiol., 11:223-242.
xxxviii
Radmere, R.; Behrens, P. (1987) “Temperature effects on microalgal photosynthetic efficiencies.” FY 1986 Aquatic Species Program Annual Report. Solar Energy Research Institute, Golden, Colorado, SERI/SP-231-3071, pp.301-320.
xxxix
Wood, Byard D. and Muhs, Jeff D. (2004) “Adaptive Full-spectrum Solar Energy Systems”, National Energy Technology Laboratory, United States Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Report 41164R06. Persistent link: http://www.osti.gov/bridge/purl.cover.jsp?purl=/834116-FlMrnh/native/ Available in html format: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:yjev7MwTfMkJ:www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/834116-FlMrnh/native/834116.pdf+Report+41164R06&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
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Cogne, G.; Lasseur, C.; Cornet, J.F.; Dussap, C.G.; Gros, J.B. Growth monitoring of a photosynthetic micro-organism (Spirulina platensis) by pressure measurement. Biotechnology letters, Aug 2001. v. 23 (16), p. 1309-1314. Persistent link: http://www.kluweronline.com/issn/0141-5492/contents .
Biotechnology letters, Aug 2001. v. 23 (16), p. 1309-1314. “Abstract: An on-line measurement technique for estimating biomass production rate in a photosynthetic micro-organism culture was developed and tested experimentally. The technique is based on monitoring O2 production from the increase in pressure inside a closed photobioreactor. The data obtained by this method correlated with the direct measurement of the biomass concentration. A material balance on the components in the system allows the validity domain of the method to be defined. The method was applied to batch cultures of the cyanobacterium, Spirulina platensis, in a cylindrical photobioreactor validating existing physiological and light energy models. “ Persistent link: http://www.kluweronline.com/issn/0141-5492/contents .
xli
Shelef, G. A.; Sukenik, A.; Green, M. (1984a) “Microalgae harvestingasnd processing: a literature review.” Report, Solar Energy Research Institute, Golden, Colorado, SERI/STR-231-2396.
xlii
We might have to change the growing medium to corn meal or some other grain meal, in order to change the taste of the slettuce just before harvest.
xliii
Sheehan, et al. July 1998. A Look Back at the UNITED STATES Department of Energy's Aquatic Species; Program: Biodiesel from Algae Close-Out Report. NREL/TP-580-24190.
xliv
Knothe, G. (1999) “Rapid Monitoring of Transesterification and Assessing Biodiesel Fuel Quality by Near-infrared Spectroscopy Using a Fiber-Optic Probe,” ARS, USDA, NCAUR, Peoria, Illinois 61604
xlv
Berglund, D.; Cooksey, B,; Cooksey, K.E; Priscu, L.R. (1987) “Collection and screening of microalgae for lipid production; Possible use of a flow cytometer for lipid analysis.” FY1986 Aquatic Species Program Annual Report, Solar Enery Research Institute, Golden, Colorado, SERI/SP-231-3071, pp. 41-52.
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xlvii
Econo Heat, Inc., Spokane, WA. www.econoheat.com
xlviii
Tyson, 2004, p. 62:
“Novel biodiesel production technology may improve the quality and value of the crude glycerin produced by biodiesel plants. The least desirable contaminant in crude glycerin is the spent salts from the esterification reactions. These can represent 10% to 30% of the crude glycerin by weight depending on the feedstock and process. Fixed catalyst systems, fluidized bed, packed beds, molecular sieves, etc., could eliminate spent catalysts in the glycerin leaving it relatively easy to refine into glycerol, even for small scale plants. There are some fixed acid, resin acid catalysts used for acid esterification and widely used in the petroleum industry but their conversion efficiency is not high enough for biodiesel production. Development, testing and optimization of fixed base and acid-base catalysts would improve the quality and value of the glycerin produced. This in turn, could enable small biodiesel producers to make coproducts from the glycerol, refine it relatively inexpensively, and provide an avenue towards product diversification.
“4.7 Bio-distillate Production In the late 1970’s Mobile researchers showed that a variety of biomass substrates could be catalytically converted to liquid aromatic hydrocarbons and olefins using a shape selective ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst. One of the feedstocks tried was corn oil. The hydrocarbon end products represented clean premium fuels: LPG, high octane gasoline with a high aromatic content, and a light distillate fraction. Recent studies in Brazil showed that different fuels and industrial chemicals can be produced from vegetable oils, frequently in the high yields, simply by changing the nature of the catalyst, temperature and reaction period.47 With no catalyst and a thermal cracking temperature of 46All materials listed in the USP are considered drugs by law and subject to all the U.S. Food & Drug Administration requirements pertaining to drugs. Labeling a product or a substance as USP implies that it conforms to all the legal requirements of the FDA and that it was produced in accordance with the principles outlined in FDA’s Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). A new edition of the USP is published every five years in the years ending in "0" and "5," with ongoing revisions and additions issued during the interim years.
[Alencar et al. 1983. Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry, V31. No. 6, (pp. 1268-70).]
Research at the University of Saskatchewan has shown that canola oil and tall oil can be converted with yields in excess of 98% by weight using the Mobile catalysts to a mixture of 70% - 75% high octane gasoline and other hydrocarbons using fluid catalytic cracking (FCC).
“Subsequent work funded by the Natural Resources Canada was conducted by the Saskatchewan Research Council to convert a wide range of plant oils into diesel cetane improvers. The process involved a medium severity hydroprocess operating in laboratory-scale conventional refinery hardware under proprietary temperatures and pressures. Several reactions occurred in the process including hydrocracking (breaking apart the triglycerides, otherwise known as splitting), hydrotreating (removing the oxygen, or otherwise known as decarboxylation) and hydrogenation (saturating the double bonds). The hydroprocessing catalysts employed were conventional hydrotreating catalysts including cobalt-molybdenum (Co-Mo), nickel molybdenum (Ni-Mo) and other transition metal catalysts such as American Cynamid HDS-20 or Shell S-424. Hydroprocessing conditions ranged from 350oC to 450oC and a pressure from 4.8 Mpa to about 15.2 Mpa and a liquid hourly space velocity of 0.5 to 5.0 per hour, depending on feedstock.
“Experiments were conducted with canola, sunflower, palm, soy, high erucic rapeseed oils and the fatty acid fraction of tall oil. The grade of oil appeared to affect processing conditions. More refined oils produced good yields at the lower end of the temperature and pressure ranges while the unrefined or lower quality oils required higher temperatures and pressures to achieve good results. “Diesel” yields of 80% of total feedstock routinely observed under optimized conditions.50 No unusual byproducts were produced and all products other than the diesel fraction were suitable for further processing with other conventional refinery streams. In all likelihood, the process produced fully hydrogenated straight chain paraffins similar to oleochemical detergent processes, with the primary different occurring in the splitting step. The high cetane and cloud points (20oC) of the resulting diesel fractions used as cetane improvers support this assumption as do the patent claims “Surprisingly, the hydroprocessing conditions …work very efficiently to convert the triglycerides feedstock to paraffinic hydrocarbon chains corresponding in length to the original “branches” in the basic triglycerides structure” (meaning the fatty acid chains). When canola oil was processed at 370oC and 4.8 MPa, the GC-MS analysis of the 210oC to 343oC fraction contained 95% straight chain alkanes with 15 to 18 carbons. The fatty acid composition of the oil affected the fraction of product that resulted in the 210oC to 343oC temperature range.”


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NREL summary:
“The oleochemical industry consumes 2.6 billion pounds of fatty acids (Table 30) to produce almost 4 billion pounds of plastics, lubricants, detergents, solvents, and other useful industrial and consumer products (Table 31). The oleochemical industry also produces by product glycerol, used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and other high value uses. An overview of the oleochemical product lines and their uses is provided in Appendix A.
“Making higher value derivatives from methyl esters produces additional profits for an oleochemical plant, but that does not make methyl esters any less expensive to produce. Nearly 99.5% of the available fatty acids in triglyceride feedstocks are converted into methyl esters. Each methyl ester is already directed into its highest value use as the oleochemical plants optimize their product slates depending on consumer preferences and market signals.
“Some of the average costs of production may be spread over more products, but quite frankly, the more products a firm producers the higher the investment costs. Investors may find higher profits in producing oleochemicals compared to methyl ester intermediates or even methyl ester fuels, but this does not reduce the underlying cost structure for making the methyl esters themselves. The only way to make methyl esters less expensive is to reduce the price of oils used to produce them. (Tyson, 2004, pp.72-73)
“From a technical standpoint, glycerol’s multifunctional structure can be exploited by several different means, as shown by the potential glycerol product family in Figure 28. It is clear that a very large number of products and product classes could, in principle, be derived from glycerol.
“However, an attempt has been made in this section to avoid simply listing each of the many separate structures. Instead, the very large number of product opportunities and types of technology that could be brought to bear on glycerol has been focused into three larger categories that lead to clearer definition of barriers. Because this becomes product oriented R&D, objectives and goals should be set in partnership with industry.”
(Tyson, 2004, pp. 75-76)
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NREL summary:
“There is a tremendous potential to develop a variety of new processes and product lines from glycerol, taking advantage of its unique structure and properties. Glycerol is a nontoxic, edible, biodegradable compound. These characteristics provide important environmental benefits to new platform products. Most products are based on unmodified glycerol or simple modifications to the glycerol molecule. More complex chemistry was hindered by its high cost. Lower cost glycerol could open significant markets in polymers, ethers, and other compounds.” (Tyson, 2004, p. 76)
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Biodiesel Solutions; www.biodieselsolutions.com
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Chen, G.; Meng, X.; Li, W;.; Chen, L.; "Enzymatic Conversion of Waste Cooking Oils into Alternative Fuel—Biodiesel”, Section of Bioenergy and Energy-Efficient Buildings, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Weijin Road 92, 300072, Tianjin, China
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Merchant service of card transactions is offered through Co-op America (www.coopamerica.org)with its partners, Shore Bank (www.shorebank.com) and TransFirst (www.transfirst.com)
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Intuit, 6060 Nancy Ridge Ct., Ste 109, San Diego, CA 92121-3290;' www.intuit.com.
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NREL summary:
Demonstrate and optimize commercial bio-distillate production Bio-distillation research was ranked number one for several reasons. The benefits of producing bio-distillates from using existing infrastructure are significant. Production and distribution costs can be minimized and key political barriers are addressed. Bio-distillates can become a premium additive, where the additional value may offset the higher cost inputs. Biomass oils could displace higher cost refinery streams. A stand-alone fuel composed of bio-distillates could even be possible. Emission benefits of either the additive or the stand-alone fuel are not known at this time and need to be identified. So long as existing refinery processes are used, global warming benefits are highly likely based on previous diesel and soy biodiesel life cycle analyses. There are a large number of technical issues that need to be resolved before this technology can be commercialized.
What level of incentive would be necessary to breakeven with vegetable oil feedstocks? Why types of logistical issues limit oil displacement, if any? What are the feedstock quality issues? What is the oil displacement potential?


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