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Courtesy of ToxicFree Foundation

Stevens researchers grow a greener future

In case you didn’t know, green is the new black.

Oil-rich green microalgae could power cars, factories, buildings, and other technologies in the not-so-distant future, and Stevens researchers are finding out how.

Yanxia Lin, an Environmental Engineering doctoral candidate at Stevens, is using algae plants to generate renewable biofuel. With the support of a student committee, Dr. Agamemnon Koutsospyros from the University of New Haven, and Christos Christodoulatos, Director of the Center for Environmental Systems, Lin specifically studies how varying amounts of light shone upon algae can maximize fuel production.

Why algae? It turns out that the microscopic, photosynthetic plant can grow in recycled wastewater and produce algal oil, which can be extracted using green solvents. It can then be converted into a liquid biofuel which could someday replace petroleum. Algae also produces most of the oxygen we breathe. It’s pretty important.

Lin’s research focuses heavily on testing for variables. The team has expanded its design to include two different algal growth environments, including both a liquid setup (called suspension growth) and a surface setup (called attached growth). The team accounts for the growth of the algal biomass, cost efficiency, and energy efficiency when comparing the two systems.

“Once we have the system for culturing the microalgae,” says Lin, “the next step is to find out the best conditions for culture. Then we can apply the real wastewater to assess the treatment effect.” 

It is a meticulous process that has been somewhat downsized to accommodate low costs and the smaller lab environment.

“If you do this in the field, you have a pond. But this is our system,” said Professor Christodoulatos as he showed me the team’s newest installment: a suspension growth research area in the busy Nicoll Laboratory. The setup contains algae samples in two bioreactor tubs full of water. Paddles that resemble watermills stir the algae in the nutrient-enriched water. 

According to Christodoulatos, the group has tried both freshwater and marine algae to determine which is better suited for cultivation in industrial wastewater. The marine algae are “more tolerant” because they are accustomed to a sodium-rich environment. The researchers have also varied light exposure and water samples. After the most ideal conditions have been found, the team plans to “scale up” the system.

Scaling up is synonymous with making the project applicable in the real world as the global thirst for renewable biofuel increases. According to BP’s prediction on World Energy Day in 2014, “the Earth has enough oil left for about 53 more years at current production levels.” If this prediction is correct, we have mere decades left to continue our petroleum-guzzling. The clock is ticking. 

Biofuel is needed, but its use has taken a while to catch on. 

According to a 2018 Forbes article by Robert Rapier, this slowness is partly due to a lack of credible research on algal biofuel production. Many companies “received both private investments and taxpayer dollars based on claims for algal biofuels that just weren’t credible,” wrote Rapier. Without substantial results, the field cannot be taken as seriously as it should be.

However, when talented teams like Lin’s produce fruitful results, perspectives can shift. 

According to algal biology expert Kris Niyogi, “the good news is that algae are starting to get a lot more attention these days, even from big oil companies that are now putting tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars into algal biofuel research.” This investment could prove invaluable as funding for sustainable energy is costly. 

One big investor is the Department of Defense (DOD), a Stevens research partner on this particular project. Professor Christodoulatos calls Stevens’ association with the DOD a “friendly twenty-five-year relationship.” How cool is that?

The DoD aims to increase sustainability efforts to achieve a “net zero” impact in energy, water, and waste at U.S. defense facilities. Eventually, the idea of a “net zero” could be one of our country’s environmental values. The idea especially excites Lin and Christodoulatos because it encourages valorization, or the conversion of waste into a valuable product. In other words, our waste could become our main energy source.

Although the cost of sustainable energy is high, Lin is hopeful about its potential role in our future. “What we can do,” she says, “is produce energy in a sustainable way. That is our only option for the future.”

Who knows? Maybe Lin’s biofuel will inspire a more eco-friendly world. Maybe it will power our cars one day. In fact, don’t be surprised if it does.

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