Rowan Engineering wins DOE grant to study alternative fuel

July 28, 2011

As the “green” energy movement further develops, alternative fuel sources – everything from solar energy to hydropower – continue to be a hot topic. At Rowan University’s College of Engineering, a new project looks toward a less well-known alternative: algae.

The U. S. Department of Energy has awarded Rowan Engineering a $750,000 grant for the project “Algae-Derived Biofuels.” Dr. Kauser Jahan, professor of environmental engineering in the Civil and Environmental Engineering program, calls algae “one of the most promising alternatives” to traditional biodiesel fuel.

Biodiesel fuel currently consists of plant and animal oils such as soybeans, corn and canola oil and animal fat, materials that need to be replenished through farming. “The problem,” Jahan said, “is that in order to displace all transport fuel consumed in the United States, the land area required to grow these oil crops would be unsustainably large and interfere with food production.”

Algae may be a solution

Jahan and her Rowan Engineering colleagues – professor and chair of Chemical Engineering Dr. Robert Hesketh, professor of chemical engineering Dr. C. Stewart Slater, associate professor of chemical engineering Dr. Mariano Savelski, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering Dr. Will Riddell and assistant professor of chemical engineering Dr. Shamia Hoque – believe that using algae rather than the traditional components of biodiesel fuel may solve many of the problems associated with the fuel source.

Algae as an alternative to traditional biodiesel fuel materials are being studied extensively to optimize growth and oil extraction conditions worldwide. The Rowan University study is two part.  One part is a life-cycle analysis that will determine the most efficient and environmentally friendly way to manufacture biodiesel fuel from algae.

In the other part of the project, Rowan Engineering will collaborate with Preston, Minn.-based Algaedyne Corporation and Bordentown-based Garden State Ethanol, Inc., to study the effect of membrane technology on the growth of algae. Membrane technology, which already is used for a variety of purposes, involves the use of membranes to filter or separate materials and for gas delivery. Algaedyne will use a hollow fiber membrane system proposed by researchers at Rowan University to supply algae with carbon dioxide that will promote growth. The Rowan team will compare the results of algae grown using membrane technology with that of algae grown using more conventional methods. Garden State Ethanol will play a role in the investigation, conducting specific pilot-scale testing to determine algae dewatering and oil-extraction techniques.

It grows more easily

The effects of this project, the team believes, could improve the use of biodiesel fuels in a number of ways. Algae can be grown more easily than the plants currently used in biodiesel fuel. “Algae reproduce quickly, produce oils more efficiently than crop plants and require relatively few nutrients for growth,” said Jahan. Unlike plants used for food, algae also can be grown on land that would be considered substandard for agricultural purposes, and it can grow and thrive on nutrients obtained from cheaper sources, like wastewater.

The algae used in this project were purchased from UTEX, The Culture Collection of Algae at the University of Texas at Austin. If algae biodiesel fuel does turn out to be a viable alternative fuel source, Jahan believes that it would “probably be mass produced in open air or indoor closed reactors.”

One of the current challenges to using algae as a fuel source is the complexity of current methods of harvesting and processing the algae. Jahan is hopeful, though, as institutions beyond Rowan also begin to study algae as a biodiesel fuel source. “This is being researched worldwide as scientists work on better oil-extraction techniques and optimizing oil yields under various environmental conditions,” Jahan said.