Dr. Hebner, Mr. Werst or Mr. Thomas if you have any other questions!

1. Algae Processing Research at
the University of Texas at Austin
Program Overview
Mike Werst
m.werst@cem.utexas.edu
April 27, 2011

2. Why Algae?
• Algae has many uses…..
– Energy
– Fertilizer
– Food
– Medical
– Pollution Control
– …..?

3. The Problem—Production Cost
• Technical feasibility demonstrated years ago
– Present cost to produce 1 gallon of algae oil: $10-30
• Issues…production scale-up and cost reduction
– Strain selection/design – oil yield, growth rates, stability
– Production systems – open ponds/bioreactors,
phototrophic/heterotrophic
– Measuring oil content during growth
– CO2 and nutrient sources
– Harvesting
– Bi-product recovery
– Capital costs
– Energy and water use

4. The UT Algae Effort is
• Large
– >60 faculty, researchers, and students
– Plus larger group of researchers in associated, related fields
• Multidisciplinary
– Biologists, biochemists, physicists and engineers: mechanical, electrical, chemical,
civil and environmental
• Focused on Making Processing Economically Viable
– Complete Process
• Algae selection/design
• Growth
• Harvesting
Processing • Dewatering
Team • Lysing
Primary • Separation
Focus • Metrology – without good process measurements, there is no process control
• Fuel/bi-product production – as needed
• Life cycle analysis – program focus, regulatory acceptance
• Funded by OpenAlgae
• UT and Organic Fuels created company in 2008 to license and commercialize algae
processing equipment

5. UT Algae Processing Team
Faculty/Staff/Students – 2010-2011
• Center for Electromechanics • EWRE—Environmental & Water Resource
– Dr. Bob Hebner Engineering (Civil Egr)
– Robert Pearsall – Dr. Lynn Katz
– Dr. Rhykka Connelly – Dr. Kerry Kinney
– Dan Schmid – Dr. Eric Chin
– Morela Montoya – JinYong Choi
– Mike Werst – Allison Osborn
– Dr. Mark Flynn – Fernando Salas
– Tom Hotz – Aurore Mercelat
– Bruce Morison • Molecular Cell Biology (Natural Sciences)
– Bryan Bunkowski – Dr. Marty Poenie
– Jody Van Reet – Jessica Jones
– Cynthia Amoles – Dr. Schonna Manning
– Andrew Weldon • Mechanical Engineering
– Evan Morison
– Dr. Rod Ruoff
– Hoyt Thomas
– Dr. Colin Beal
– Dr. John Uglum
– Christopher Myer
• SRP—Separations Research Program (Chem Egr)
• Electrical Engineering
– Dr. Frank Seibert
– Dr. Alexis Kwasinski
– Steve Briggs
– Sungwoo Bae
– Robert Montgomery
– Ankur Dass

6. Integrated Algae Processes
• Harvest and concentrate to return 99% of water
• Lyse algae to rupture cells and release lipids (oil)
• Recover oil and biomass without solvent contamination
• Test and measure at each step to validate process
• Process any algae from any growth media

7. Processing Technology
Overview • identify and quantify the types of lipids present in algae
measure • follow the abundance of lipids in algae through the processes of Growth, Harvesting, Lysis, and Recovery
HPLC TLC NMR Mass Spec • determine the composition of the final oil
grow
• 4-stage scale-up to raceway
ponds
harvest/
• strain selection -- over 3,000 concentrate lyse
strains readily available
through UTEX Collection • multiple concentration • patented technology
methods under exploration employing electromechanical recovery
• species-specific optimization forces strip cell walls and
• pH adjustment • patented membrane
to maximize lipid or protein expose lipid droplets
technology recovers oils
mobile platform
content
• proprietary resin technology • solvent-less system maintains without exposing the algae to
solvents • skid-mounted modular unit at
• daily analyses of lipid and the integrity of the algal
protein content • proprietary electrowicking biomass
algae site
process
• pilot or production scale unit
• works on fresh, brackish, and
will harvest, lyse, and recover
marine algae
oils from algae
OpenAlgae and • extremely cost efficient
• biomass remains untainted by
The University of Texas Algae Program solvents and can be sold for
Center for Electromechanics downstream applications
Director: Dr. Robert Hebner. Algae Biofuels Program Manager: Mike Werst. (organic fertilizer, feed, etc.)

8. CONCENTRATION

9. Concentration
Challenges Considerations
• Micron Size Algae • Algae Species (Mix)
• Dilute Concentrations • Water Composition
• High Volumes
– Brackish/Fresh
• Negatively Charged
• Suspended in Solution – Conductivity, pH, ionic comositio
n
• Paste or Pumpable Product
• Byproducts
• Cost—largely

10. Semi-Batch Process
pH-Induced De-Flocculation
Flocculation ACID
Base
ALGAE
CONCENTRATE
Discharge
or Recycle
Discharge or Recycle (if stream present)
Increase Fill & Recirculation Acidification Deliver to
the pH & Settling & Separation down stream

11. Semi-Batch Concentration
Process
pH Increase Settling and Deflocculation
Or
UT Home
Algae Grown
Trucked-In

12. Continuous Flocculation/
Deflocculation Concentration Process

13. Features & Technology Potential
Yields biomass not contaminated with flocculants (e.g.,
metals, polymers) that may make the product
unsuitable for some downstream applications
A continuous flow process that utilizes readily available
reagents (base and carbon dioxide) to achieve high
removal efficiencies.
Generates a homogeneous, deflocculated microalgae
slurry which is compatible with UT’s lysing and oil
separation processes.

14. LYSING

15. Electromechanical Lysing
Background
• Electroporation of
sugarcane
– On-going
– Successful
• Developing 1.2
Brix values of extracted juice (100 pulses)
diagnostics to
Average Brix
1.0 difference: 0.37
0.8
determine Brix
0.6
Test
Control
effectiveness 0.4
0.2
0.0
A B C Avg

16. Extension to Algae
• Significant challenges
– Negligible cost
– No drying
– No solvents
– Unlike sugarcane
• Not water soluable
• Physically large
structures
– Electroporation alone
unlikely
– Cell wall and cell
membrane

17. Insight – Time Scales Matter
• Field applied • Different volumes
– Less than a have different time
microsecond constants
• Electroporation only
• Physical motion not
possible
– Greater than a
microsecond
• Physical distortion
possible

18. EM Lysing Effectiveness
• Electromechanical cell lysing verified by:
– EM Analysis - good correlation with wave theory
– Spectrophotometric chemical and chlorophyll assays
– Biodiesel and algae oil quantities produced
– Released triglyceride, protein and enzymes analyses
– Fluorescent imaging
– High speed camera imaging
– Scanning electron microscope
• Also use Dounce homogenizer, bead beater, ultrasonic and French press for
comparison

19. Lysis Validation – TEM and SEM
Microscopy
control pulsed
Beal et al., ―Progression of Lipid Profile and Cell Structure in a Research Production Pathway for Algal Biocrude,‖ In Review

20. Laboratory Lysing Power Supply
• Marx bank used for lab testing
– Convenient, adjustable voltage
source
– Does not provide optimum wave
shape
– Not efficient or practical for field
use

21. Solid State Lysing Power
Supply
• Proof of principle
device, designed
built and
demonstrated
• Patents filed
• Paper* published

22. Cost Implications
• We apply relatively high voltages pulses for a very
short duration
• Power consumption is very low
• Solid state power supply produces very unique pulse
shapes
• Design uses components that are commercially
available
• Design can be manufactured by power electronics
industry

23. OIL SEPARATION

24. ―Solventless Process‖
Oil
Concentrated & Lysed
Algae Slurry
Oil
Separation
Separate water
and algae
• UT-OpenAlgae patented enhanced coalescence membrane extractor
• No distillation required in solventless operating mode
• May also be used with selective solvents for extraction of other algae bi-
products

25. HPLC Separation Results
Extraction Algae Feed
Polar Oil
DG
HC
DG Extracted Oil
HC
Polar Oil
BC
Membrane extractor is effective for recovering non-polar oil from well-lysed
algae
• Supported with pilot data
• Up to 94% extraction efficiencies demonstrated
• No plugging observed with non or de-flocculated lysed algae concentrate
• Proposed separation mechanism is coalescence
• With solventless operation, cost to operate simply pumping cost to
overcome pressure drop across membrane; all components are COTs

26. ANALYSIS

27. Integrated Mass Balance
Processing flowchart
Cultivation
Batch Record C-011511-1
(AC) Samples are collected before and after
CEM each processing step.
H-011511-1
Volume, biomass, and lipid content are
Harvest: measured. Cellular morphologies are
Batch Record monitored.
(AH)
EWRE
H-011511-3
L-011611-1
Lysing:
Batch Record
H-011511-2
effluent recycled back to pond
(AL) L-011611-2
CEM
E-011711-1
Extraction:
Batch Record
(AE)
SRP
E-011711-9 E-011711-14
final biomass final oil

28. Chemical Analyses
• Tools
– TLC
– HPLC/MS
– NMR
– GC/MS
• Track oil throughout processing
– Lipid classes
– Specific lipid species
• Identify components
– Liberated from biomass
– Attached to biomass

29. Summary
• The solution is multidisciplinary, so UT assembled a team of
university experts and formed a company to commercialize the
technologies
• Optimization of the process requires understanding at the system
level, not just the individual process step level
• The UT-OpenAlgae integrated process is algae and growth method
agnostic
• Significant progress is being made in driving down cost

30. Contact Information
Mr. Mike Werst Dr. Robert Hebner
Center for Electromechanics Center for Electromechanics
Algae Program Manager Director
(512) 232-1604 (512) 232-1628
m.werst@cem.utexas.edu r.hebner@cem.utexas.edu
Mr. Hoyt Thomas
OpenAlgae
President and CEO
(713) 979-2600
hhthomas@openalgae.com