Gas Problems
JMU students create alternative to fossil fuels using algae to make biodiesel
By Shayna Strang, staff writer
Posted on February 5, 2007

With U.S. consumption of oil at over 20 million barrels a day, researchers have been looking for a sustainable resource to replace that fossil fuel. Students from multiple concentrations in ISAT have joined together to make that transition go green — literally.

The students are making biodiesel from green algae.

“We realized the potential algae had for fuel production,” sophomore Ryan Powanda, one of the students involved with the project, said.

Other students involved include Emily Thomas, Kevin Hofmaener, Jon Brown and Ryan Geary, Andrew Flatness, John Kauffman and Billy Broas, who are working on their senior project in ISAT. The group is advised by ISAT assistant professor Chris Bachmann.

“No one has been able to come up with anything to replace oil. That’s why we are looking at micro-algae as a fuel source,” Bachmann said.

The idea of converting algae into fuel goes back to 1978, when the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fuels Development funded the Aquatic Species Program; since then, advances in technology and the recent oil hikes have made this research significant to everyone.

“It’s a big, big issue,” Bachmann said. “Without oil, our economy will collapse.”

Since algae can grow much faster than most other land crops and don’t have to be harvested at one time each year, it is a promising source, Bachmann said. The students are focusing their research on finding which type of algae grows the fastest and which has the highest oil output for fuel production. Corporations, such as GreenFuel Technologies, have been using a process similar to the students’ to develop a clean and renewable energy source.

The process begins with a photobioreactor, a system of cylinders, water, light and air bubbles. The algae is put into the cylinders, known as growth tubes. It is fed air, carbon dioxide and light constantly, while nutrients are given at intervals.

“They reproduce so quickly,” sophomore Emily Thomas said.

As the algae multiplies, sections can be removed from the ends to extract the oil needed to make fuel.

“If you can construct enough tubes, you can siphon off enough of the algae to take biodiesel fuel from it,” Powanda said.

Since plants grow back every year, this seems like a never-ending supply. But according to Bachmann, there is a catch.

“Even if we develop all these bio fuels, we won’t be able to make enough to keep up with oil use,” he said. “We really need to start using less fuel.”

Bachmann said with the way the world uses oil, the reserves will be gone in 40 years. The cost of research and production of bio fuels has become more expensive than oil because there is more to making them.

Currently the price of gas is about equal with bio fuels, he said.

“It’s getting more expensive as we go, but it’s very necessary,” Bachmann said.

The students will be presenting their findings at the annual CISAT Senior Symposium later in the year.