Greg cc list:
1.Thanks for the alert. Googling gave these (from which SA pulled their
material)
http://www.nrel.gov/news/features/2015/19532
http://www.nrel.gov/biomass/news/2015/18508.html
https://www.nrel.gov/energysciences/sites/default/files/embedded/files/Nature-Plants-Article.pdf
and a 2015 PPt:
http://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/04/f21/algae_yu_134301.pdf
and I now see this idea goes back quite a few years.
2. Being in the same town, I will try to learn more on the CDR side. I
found nothing so far on the disposition of the algae after its death (in a few
months). Biochar or HTC (hydrothermal carbonization) would seem possible.
Feeding CO2 back after combustion of pyrolysis gas combustion seems as
appropriate as any other form of CO2 insertion - doubling the CDR potential of
biochar. Similar to some of the ideas apparently to appear in the Tim Flannery
book.
3. Still off by about a factor of 3-4 in costs - but that would narrow a lot
if we can get a carbon tax/fee. Maybe such a decision at COP21-Paris?
Ron
On Aug 18, 2015, at 10:37 AM, Greg Rau <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/genetically-modified-algae-could-replace-oil-for-plastic/
>>
> The researchers are able to make ethylene from algae by altering a part of
> the organism’s metabolism called the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, which is
> involved in biosynthesis and energy production. In genetically unaltered
> blue-green algae, the cycle can only take in a relatively small fraction, or
> 13 percent, of the 2 to 3 percent of fixed CO2. But in Yu’s lab, the algae
> are able to send three times more carbon to the TCA cycle and emit 10 percent
> of the fixed carbon dioxide as ethylene—at a rate of 35 milligrams per liter
> per hour. That might not sound like very much, but it represents a
> thousandfold increase in productivity since he first began working with the
> cyanobacteria in 2010. By the end of this year, Yu is aiming to increase that
> productivity to 50 milligrams.
>
> “This is by no means close to the upper limit,” he said, explaining that the
> ultimate goal will be to convert 90 percent of fixed carbon to ethylene. “I
> cannot see why it cannot go higher; I haven’t run into a brick wall yet. I
> don’t know what would prevent that from happening, but of course it could.”
>
> Surprisingly, even though the cyanobacteria are producing more ethylene, the
> organisms are still growing at the same rate as non-ethylene-producing algae.
> The results demonstrate that the cyanobacteria’s metabolism was much more
> flexible than previously thought, according to Yu.
>
>
>
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