Heightened Technologies — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.8

Description

A sustainable supply of renewable biofuel will contribute to the Nation's energy security. Algal biomass is seen as having potential to be a significant source of renewable bioenergy. Microalgae-derived biofuel provides a high oil productivity with a smaller land footprint than terrestrial biofuel crops. It captures carbon dioxide and can grow on marginal lands or with salty aquifer water or wastewater; thus, it provides a source of clean energy with little negative impact on food and water supplies or the biodiversity. Algae cultivation requires no external subsidies of insecticides or herbicides that are often associated with a source of stream pollution. However, the cost to produce algal biofuel is prohibitive presently and it must be significantly reduced for it to be widespread.Heightened Technologies (HT) will develop and deliver a novel algae-liquid separation technology to be used for separation of cultivated algae from its growth medium, thereby removing a significant cost barrier of procuring lipid from the algae. The new technology provides a solution to the technical difficulty of harvesting algae from a dilute suspension using a novel process that deploys oscillating microbubbles in the disruptive transport of the algal cells followed by coalescing filtration and collection of the released algal lipid. The outcome of the proposed project will contribute to the goal of producing algal biofuel that makes sustainable use of rural areas where rural communities can engage in bioenergy production activities of an emerging and large economic scale. It will contribute to the nation and USDA's strategic goal to assist rural communities to create prosperity so they can be self-sustaining, repopulating, and economically thriving.