The Algae Testbed Public-Private Partnership (ATP3) framework; establishment of a national network of testbed sites to support sustainable algae production

Down-Selection and Outdoor Evaluation of Novel, Halotolerant Algal Strains for Winter Cultivation

“…Following down-selection via indoor screening, 3 promising winter isolates 14-F2 ( Micractinium reisseri ), 4-C12 ( Chlorella vulgaris ), and 46B-D3 ( Scenedesmus rubescens ) were deployed outdoors utilizing the AzCATI testbed site located at Arizona State University in Mesa Arizona during February of 2016. Cultures were scaled up indoors using bubble columns and 15 L flat panel reactors as described in McGowen et al (2017) , and finally inoculated into 1000 L raceway ponds at a 25 cm depth, with an area of 4.2 m 2 . Media consisted of 35 g/L salinity achieved using Crystal Sea (Marine Enterprises International), 2.14 mM ammonium chloride and 0.134 mM phosphate (NaH 2 PO 4 ⋅H 2 O).…”

“…Inoculation density was targeted at 0.05 g/L of algal biomass, and sodium carbonate was added as necessary to control the pH drop due to consumption of NH 3 from the added NH 4 Cl. Pond pH was adjusted to 7.9 via a pH controller connected to a solenoid delivering CO 2 gas, and PAR was measured continuously with a LiCor LI-190R quantum pyranometer ( McGowen et al, 2017 ). Freshwater was added prior to sampling to account for evaporative loses.…”

“…Samples were filtered through a 0.2 μm nylon filter, and subjected to high pressure anion exchange liquid chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection on a PA-20 column (Thermo Scientific – Dionex ICS-5000 + Analytical HPIC System). For outdoor cultivation, ash free dry weight (AFDW) was tracked throughout outdoor growth using the methodology described in McGowen et al (2017) , which involved filtering the algal culture through a pre-weighed glass microfiber filter followed by drying, ashing and re-weighing. Three independent trials (biological triplicates) were conducted for all analyses; average and standard deviations were obtained for replicates.…”

Development of algae biorefinery concepts for biofuels and bioproducts; a perspective on process-compatible products and their impact on cost-reduction

“…These genera contain examples of species with varying macromolecular biochemistry and are used throughout projects pursued globally for algae bioenergy applications and in particular as the focus of projects currently funded by the US Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) (including productivity modeling and resource availability and allocation, such as the Biomass Assessment Tool (BAT) and national consortia like the Algae Testbed Public-Private Partnership, ATP 3 ). [15][16][17][18][19] For each of the three algae genera, the biomass composition can be divided into three major fractions: lipids, proteins and carbohydrates. Each of these fractions has a molecular compositional make up that is specific to the species and growth phase (e.g.…”

Pilot‐scale open‐channel raceways and flat‐panel photobioreactors maintain well‐mixed conditions under a wide range of mixing energy inputs

“…Neutrally buoyant particle tracking was studied in photobioreactors (Fernandes et al, 2017), but ignore the statistical and temporal nature of turbulence modeling. Ali et al (2015) demonstrated well‐mixed conditions in raceways, using paddlewheel speeds ranging from 15 to 28 RPM (Ali et al, 2015) equivalent to mixing energy inputs of 4.5–30 W·m −3 , or 2 to 15 times higher than used for industrial cultivation (McGowen et al, 2017; Sompech et al, 2012). The authors are not aware of any studies that have analyzed algae/cyanobacteria cell motion using modern experimental fluid mechanics tools or using CFD models with industrially relevant mixing energy inputs.…”