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New Algae Biofuel: Holy Hot Sugar, Batman!
New Algae Biofuel: Holy Hot Sugar, Batman!
When we say hot sugar, we mean a new generation of low cost industrial sugars that could help pull the biofuel market out of dependence on conventional crop based sugars. That leaves the field clear for the algae biofuel sector, and that’s where things start to get interesting.
A company called Proterro came across our radar last fall for just such an approach, which basically turns the first-generation biofuel model on its head. Instead of taking apart plants to extract sugars for processing into biofuel, Proterro has figured out a way to get a micro-algae called cyanobacteria to secrete the “hot sugar” sucrose.
?zoom=2&resize=499%2C290
Industrial sugar production from cyanobacteria Courtesy of Proterro
A Different Approach To Algae Biofuel
It’s worth noting up front that there are already several promising cost-effective pathways to extracting oils directly from algae and microalgae (here, here, and here for example), but there is plenty of room in this emerging fuel market for something different, namely, using algae to produce a sugar feedstock for fermentation into fuels and other products.
Also, for the record, cyanobacteria is commonly referred to as blue-green algae, but as its formal name indicates, it is actually a bacteria and not a form of marine plant life.
When we covered the news from Proterro last fall, the company had already won a US patent for its proprietary strain of cyanobacteria. In the latest development, Proterro has obtained a notice of allowance from the US patent office for the structural platform — a photobioreactor — that enables the bacteria to produce sugars at a highly efficient rate, in a process that uses carbon dioxide, sunlight, and water.
The Proterro Photobioreactor
According to Proterro, the photobioreactor is 30 times more productive than sugar cane...
When we say hot sugar, we mean a new generation of low cost industrial sugars that could help pull the biofuel market out of dependence on conventional crop based sugars. That leaves the field clear for the algae biofuel sector, and that’s where things start to get interesting.
A company called Proterro came across our radar last fall for just such an approach, which basically turns the first-generation biofuel model on its head. Instead of taking apart plants to extract sugars for processing into biofuel, Proterro has figured out a way to get a micro-algae called cyanobacteria to secrete the “hot sugar” sucrose.
?zoom=2&resize=499%2C290
Industrial sugar production from cyanobacteria Courtesy of Proterro
A Different Approach To Algae Biofuel
It’s worth noting up front that there are already several promising cost-effective pathways to extracting oils directly from algae and microalgae (here, here, and here for example), but there is plenty of room in this emerging fuel market for something different, namely, using algae to produce a sugar feedstock for fermentation into fuels and other products.
Also, for the record, cyanobacteria is commonly referred to as blue-green algae, but as its formal name indicates, it is actually a bacteria and not a form of marine plant life.
When we covered the news from Proterro last fall, the company had already won a US patent for its proprietary strain of cyanobacteria. In the latest development, Proterro has obtained a notice of allowance from the US patent office for the structural platform — a photobioreactor — that enables the bacteria to produce sugars at a highly efficient rate, in a process that uses carbon dioxide, sunlight, and water.
The Proterro Photobioreactor
According to Proterro, the photobioreactor is 30 times more productive than sugar cane...
http://cleantechnica.com/2014/02/19/new-algae-biofuel-feedstock-holy-hot-sugar-batman/
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