"Algae farming could become source of biodiesel, food oil"
PHOENIX (AP)--Many farmers keep a scarecrow handy, but Michael Bellefeuille has more to worry about than crows feeding on his unique crop.
The Casa Grande researcher and farmer begins his days scanning algae samples under a microscope to ensure his slimy harvest is safe from euglenoids, the microscopic invertebrates that kick around with a whiplike flagellum to eat whatever is in sight.
With record fuel prices, everyone from Chevron to British energy company BP is studying how to make fuel from quick-growing algae. Bellefeuille works for Phoenix-based XL Renewables Inc., which is taking a slightly different strategy by growing algae that can be sold to make animal feed, biodiesel and food oils, rather than strictly focus on biofuel.
"Our focus is to just economically produce this as a crop," President Ben Cloud said. "We see this as an emerging crop to compete with soybeans and corn."
XL Renewables has a small test facility in Casa Grande at Withrow Dairy, and officials plan to open 40 acres of 18-inch-deep algae troughs this fall to demonstrate their farming technology.
Wastewater from the dairy cattle will be used to grow the algae, which can then be used as a food supplement for the cattle, Cloud said. Algae also can be used to feed pigs, poultry and fish, he said.
About 77 percent of the algae's mass can be used in animal feeds. An additional 13 percent is oil that can be converted to biodiesel, and the remaining 10 percent can be sold as fatty acids used in human and animal food supplements.
Cloud estimates it will cost $300 per ton of algae for water, nutrients and labor, but if he can find markets for all the products, he could earn as much as $600 to $800 per ton.
He also figures he has to produce 10 tons of algae per acre per year to profit.
XL Renewables formed in 2006 to develop an algae-growing facility and biodiesel refinery in Vicksburg, about 100 miles west of Phoenix.
But the company has been unable to get financing for that refinery and, instead, is focusing on growing algae and selling it to others who would make the final products, Cloud said, adding that he still plans to develop 2,400 acres of algae troughs at the Vicksburg location after opening the test facility in Casa Grande.
Growing algae in exposed ponds that allow evaporation would seem a water-intensive crop for the desert, but Cloud and Bellefeuille hope to use partially treated wastewater or other non-drinkable water, and said that, even with evaporation, they expect algae to use less water per acre than cotton or alfalfa.
"We can locate it with marginal farmland with very poor water quality," Cloud said. "That's where algae fits. It's not something you put on prime farmland."
That's part of his sales pitch because he not only wants to be in the growing business, he wants to sell the trough technology to other farmers to start their own algae crops.
An energy expert from Arizona State University familiar with XL Renewables' work said the concept shows potential because it looks at other uses for algae.
"Many of the models (for growing algae) use a very select strain of algae that is high in oil, and they are careful not to get contamination (with other algae strains)," said Mark Edwards, a professor of marketing and sustainability. "XL's model is very promising."
Edwards recently wrote a book titled "Green Algae Strategy," in which he proposes algae as a solution for world food and fuel shortages.
"Arizona will probably be Algae Central," he said. "We have sunshine, temperate weather, not a whole lot of freezes, brine water underground that can't be used for crops, lots of cheap desert land. We have exactly what the industry needs."
Much of the research on algae fuel has focused on how to keep it growing at the highest rate. XL officials think they have found a solution.
XL's troughs are laser-leveled and aerated to stimulate growth. The algae can be filtered from the water as it flows through the troughs.
"When you are continually harvesting it, you really are giving it room to grow," said Bellefeuille, who studied algae and biofuel at ASU.
XL officials recognize the traits in algae that have attracted ASU researchers and several major companies around the globe to the possibility of growing it for biofuel.
"It's highly adaptable," Bellefeuille said. "The next generation learns from the one before it. And every six to 12 hours it replicates."
That trait makes it possible to take a strain of alga that doesn't grow well at 100 degrees and raise it so that it thrives at that temperature, he said. It also could allow XL to grow different strains in different seasons.
Growing algae like a traditional crop has brought about some strange ideas.
Among the more bizarre plans at XL Renewables is lighting that keeps algae thriving after sundown. The company plans to test lights on the 40 acres of troughs being developed in Casa Grande.
Because the technology is proprietary, Cloud did not want to disclose the light source but said that it is not energy-intensive such as the lights greenhouses sometimes use.
He also said it does not cut into the revenue estimates for algae troughs.
"It glows," Cloud said. "People will see fields glowing at night."
Man-made pollution isn't the only thing to worry about at the beach. Add harmful algae blooms to the list.
While most algae are harmless to humans some species of these microscopic organisms concern scientists and researchers.
One of the most dangerous is the algae known as Karenia brevis, which multiplies rapidly under certain conditions to create a noxious kill zone - known as "red tide" - capable of suffocating fish and poisoning people.
Red tide algae usually sticks to Florida's Gulf Coast, where scientists and local health officials aggressively monitor it. But last year, it caught a ride on the Gulf Stream and turned up off Delaware's popular Atlantic beaches.
That was farther north than it had traveled before and its arrival fueled speculation that such harmful blooms are increasing in frequency and range.
"Most scientists who have looked at this will agree we're seeing more and they are getting worse," said Larry Brand, a University of Miami marine biologist who has studied red tide extensively.
The federal government provides grants to states that monitor beach water for evidence of fecal contamination, but it is up to states to decide whether to monitor for algae.
Harmful algal blooms have occurred along all coastal and Great Lakes states over the last decade, according to a 2007 federal report.
In 2005, the toxic organism Alexandrium fundyense forced the closure of New England shellfish beds. It was the most intense bloom since 1972. Eating shellfish meat contaminated with the organism's neuromuscular toxin can cause Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning.
That same year in Florida, the biggest Karenia brevis bloom since the 1970s caused massive fish kills, manatee deaths and widespread reports of respiratory complaints from residents and beachgoers.
In Texas, the brown tide organism Aureoumbra lagunensis grew so abundant from 1990 through 1998 in Laguna Madre, more than 2,000 acres of beneficial shoal grass were lost in the longest documented harmful algal bloom in U.S. history.
On the Pacific Coast, high levels of domoic acid, the algal toxin that causes Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning in humans, closed the important razor clam fishery in Washington during the 2002-2003 season. The toxins also closed the commercial Dungeness crab fishery for the first time since 1991.
William Winkler, 60, an environmental activist and business owner in Delaware, believes he and other swimmers were sickened by the Karenia toxin last year. He said state officials should be more aggressive in identifying the algae and notifying beachgoers.
"In July, I was on the beach gasping for breath, and my girlfriend thought I was having a heart attack," said Winkler who owns a nautical shop in Ocean View, Del. "I was upset when I found out Karenia brevis was here."
Delaware officials have increased monitoring and public reporting efforts regarding harmful algal blooms this year.
TACOMA, Wash. - It was supposed to be a project to help protect fish in a popular Pierce County lake. Instead, it appears to have killed hundreds of fish and cost taxpayers close to $100,000.
Video: Tacoma fish dying after lake is treated for algae Larger screenE-mail this clip
The carcasses litter the water's of Tacoma's Lake Wapato.
The fish kill was discovered Saturday, just one day after Minnesota based TeeMark Corporation treated the lake to stop algae blooms that can be toxic to fish - a move that appears to have backfired.
Jim and Alison Hoffman have been coming to the lake for 40 years and have never seen anything like this.
"The evidence lines up that it was the chemicals," said Jim.
"Because it happened after they were put in on Friday," said Alison.
"We haven't seen any dead fish in here from the algae," said Jim.
KING Parks commissioners are advising people to stay out of the water until tests on the fish and water can be conducted. Metro Parks Tacoma paid TeeMark $98,000 to treat the lake, And while it is still unclear whether the treatment itself killed the fish, metro parks commissioners says it's hard to believe that isn't the cause.
"We're going back to the people who guided us through this process, and the people who applied and have both of them rectify what the problem is," said Larry Dahl, Metro Parks Tacoma Commissioner
Strangely, signs posted along the lake informing the public of the treatment say there are no swimming restrictions or advisories when using the product.
Something many here find hard to believe.
"It's amazing to me that they will put up signs saying there are no restrictions of going in the water -- yet they said it was safe for the fish and the fish are all dying. And who knows what's going to happen in the next couple days," said Sandy Mitchell.
Parks commissioners are advising people to stay out of the water until tests on the fish and water can be conducted.
