Tag Archives: doe
DOE Invests In Algae, Biomass Supply Chain
The U.S. DOE has announced more than $22 million in new investments to help develop cost-competitive algae fuels and to streamline the biomass feedstock supply chain for advanced biofuels. Of the investment, nearly $16.5 million will be split between four algae projects; two located in California, one in Hawaii and another in New Mexico. The goal is to boost the productivity of sustainable algae while reducing capital and operating costs. Hawaii Bioenergy was awarded a $5 million investment to develop a photosynthetic open pond system to produce algae oil. The project will also demonstrate reprocessing technologies that reduce energy use and the overall cost of extracting lipids and producing fuel intermediates. Sapphire Energy was also awarded $5 million. The funding will support the development of a new process to produce algae-based fuel that is compatible with existing refineries. The project will also work on improving algae strains and increasing yield through cultivation improvements. An additional $5 million will go to New Mexico State University, where the investment will support research to increase the yield of microalgae. The project will also develop harvesting and cultivation processes that lower costs while supporting year-round production. Finally, California Polytechnic State University is receiving $1.5 million to increase the productivity of algae strains and compare two processing technologies. The project, based at a wastewater treatment plant in Delhi, Calif., includes 6 acres of algae ponds. The remaining $6 million will support a project led by RDC Enterprises to reduce the harvesting, handling and preprocessing costs of the biomass feedstock supply chain. Continue reading
Natural Gas To Go Abroad; Biomass Says ‘Bon Voyage’
There is an obvious angst around the continued delay by the DOE to approve applications that would allow the export of natural gas from the U.S. to foreign markets. The angst for the DOE to approve natural gas exports is obvious given current price discrepancies in other countries. While the spot price for natural gas in the U.S. hovers around $4 an MMBtu, Europe pays around $12 and Japan $18 for the equivalent amount. The substantial difference in domestic and foreign prices has led twenty different groups to apply to the DOE for permission to export domestically produced natural gas. The natural gas boom in the U.S. and the companies behind it are looking to go abroad where greater profits await, and they have considerable support behind their effort. For the biomass-to-energy industry, the export of natural gas is a boon for future growth. There is no arguing that biomass projects compete directly with natural gas for electricity production, thermal demands, and (in much lesser terms) for transportation fuel production. When deciding the type of energy project to build, project developers weigh the many costs associated with potential energy inputs and the capital needed to convert the energy feedstock into a usable energy product. Most often, if not always, project developers go with the project that has lowest associated costs that accomplish the original goals. Biomass has many inherent advantages to natural gas, but in regards to price, natural gas currently wins. By expanding natural gas exports in the U.S., the price difference that allows natural gas to trump biomass as a raw energy feedstock would be reduced. Furthermore, by allowing natural gas export, the domestic spot price market for natural gas would be affected by fluctuations in foreign natural gas markets around the world. We can strongly assume that the added influence of foreign markets on domestic natural gas prices will instigate greater and more erratic domestic price fluctuations. Hedging and other tricks to mitigate erratic prices will become more widely needed to maintain profit from natural gas energy production. Greater stability in raw material prices for biomass is an asset that energy developers must take into account for the long-term economic stability of current and future energy projects. Biomass will likely see greater attention among developers as the DOE moves forward on the twenty applications pending approval, which it seems to be doing slowly . Continue reading
