Making Algae Biodiesel at Home

·        Local strains found in your environment

·        Buying a oil bearing strain and cultivating it yourself

 There are pros and cons with each approach. Let’s look at each in detail.

 Pros:

·    Economical to use. If you're lucky enough to have an oil bearing strain growing in your natural environment, this is the way to go.

·     Plentiful: Trial and error are natural. Having a steady source keeps costs down.

·     Resistant to contamination: A natural variety will already be resistant to invading species of algae.

Cons:

• Difficult to find an oil bearing species naturally. There are over 300,000 different strains of algae, only a few are oil bearing
• Sometimes difficult to identify exact species. Identification can be a problem. You may need the help of a professional, or a university lab.
• Sometimes difficult to determine growth factors in natural environment.

Buying an oil bearing strain:

 Pros:

• Able to determine exact strain before hand. You’ll be starting off quickly with a known oil bearing species. You should be able to determine minimum and maximum oil output head of time.
• Quality controlled, and usually tested. You’ll know exactly what you’re paying for.
• Able to get in-depth advice about nutrients and optimum growth characteristics. Someone else’s experience is not to be underestimated. Re-inventing the wheel takes time and money.

 Cons:

• Can be expensive
• Maybe necessary to buy several different strains.
• Shipping can cause concerns, even death of cultures.

Cultivating algae is not difficult; however careful attention to detail is required.

 We’ll assume at this point, you’ve either identified a local strain of algae, or bought an oil bearing strain.

 In a small Petri dish, or any wide-mouth container, take a small amount of algae out of your supply.

• Add a small amount of water, just enough so the culture “floats”
• Let the algae sit in a warm, sunny place, on a windowsill for example.
• Then adding nothing else, watch the culture for a few days.

 Does it grow, or does it die?

• If it grows and/or doubles in size. Stop. You’ve completed this section.
• If it dies, try again.
  • Try varying the amount of sunlight (less)
  • Vary the amount of algae
  • Vary the amount of water.

 The point of this exercise is to see if you make the algae grow with no outside help. If it does…

• This is a strong species and worth continuing experimenting with.
• This is a species that will (hopefully) do even better with proper nutrients manipulation.
• If it also has high lipid (oil) content, you’re well on your way to a successful project.

 If it dies no matter what you do, this is also giving you valuable information.

• You may have picked the wrong species for your climate.
• You may be using too much sun
• Your water may be contaminated (Chlorine? Fluoride?) Try using distilled water.

 At this point, you may need to choose another species, or try to determine exactly what went wrong. If this is a species from your environment, you’ll need to figure out what in your environment is causing growth, while at the same time is inhibiting growth in your species.

 If this was a purchased strain, consult with the lab you bought it from to determine exactly what went wrong.

Once again, attention to detail and keeping good notes is what is going to set you apart from success or failure.

 At this point, we need to assume the following:

• You have an identified oil bearing species of algae
• You’ve been able to get it to grow on its own.

 At this stage, we’re concerned with maximizing the growth of the algae. Algae will propagate on its own of course. But our problem to be overcome is to be able to grow enough algae to meet our needs. This is one of the most difficult aspects. Not maximizing the growth of algae, per se, but growing ENOUGH algae to warrant the time, expense, and trouble of growing algae for biodiesel production.

 So at this point you know with a minimum of fuss and bother it will grow

•       You’ll have an idea of how fast it will double its mass

•       You’ll know the correct amount of sunlight

•       You’ll know the correct amount of water necessary

 Next you’ll want to add nutrients to see the various effects. The hope here is that they will enhance growth, and/or speed up the growth process.

•       Start with fish nitrates (feces) if available.

•       Try plant food at your local aquarium shop

•       Try dried animal manure, ground into a powder

•       Try “Miracle Grow” plant food.

 Try using very small amounts of each in the beginning. Simply sprinkle over the specimen or mix into the water.

 After you tried ONE thing. Stop. Watch what happens, and record the details. (A few days)

•       In some case, your specimen will die.

•       If so, start again. Now you know not use that particular nutrient, or as much of that nutrient.

•       If nothing happens, add another nutrient

•       Vary the amount of the nutrient

•       Vary the amount of sunlight

•       Vary the amount of water

 What you WANT to happen is that the growth of the algae is accelerated

•       If the alga was doubling in size every 3 days, and now it’s doubling every 1.5 days, stop.

•       You’ve identified key nutrients and/or conditions to enhance growth

The good news is, this section is easy, and truthfully, kind of fun!

By this time, you should know…

• What algal strain is best for your environment.

• That your algal strain will grow with little or no help from you

• The “doubling rate” of your algal strain

• The amount of sunlight necessary.

• The amount of nutrients necessary for growth

• The kind of nutrients your algal species prefers

• The “doubling rate” with nutrients.

• How to maximize the growth rate

• Which combinations of nutrients and sunlight are best.

• How much algae you can reasonably expect to grow within a given time period.

Now it’s time to harvest your algae and dry it.

This step is easily accomplished.

Wait until the algae culture starts the “declining relative growth” phase. (See the eBook for an in-depth explanation of this phase) But basically, this is when it stops with the steep upward growth climb.

At this point, remove half the algae.

Depending on the size of the algae culture I’m working with, you may want to take it all, or take less than half.

• If you want to keep experimenting, (recommended) leave some of the successful culture behind.

On a small, flat mesh screen, spread the algae out, put it into the sun and let it dry.

Let it dry in the sun until it changes color, and all water has evaporated. Depending on your location, this could be a day, or three.

If you’re the impatient type, use a hair blower, keeping it at least 1 foot (1/3 meter) away from the algae.

By this time, you should know…

• What algal strain is best for your environment.

• That your algal strain will grow with little or no help from you

• The “doubling rate” of your algal strain

• The amount of sunlight necessary.

• The amount of nutrients necessary for growth

• The kind of nutrients your algal species prefers

• The “doubling rate” with nutrients.

• How to maximize the growth rate

• Which combinations of nutrients and sunlight are best.

• How much algae you can reasonably expect to grow within a given time period.

• If your algal strain will survive half extraction

• The ratio of “wet weight algae” to “dry weight algae”

Now you’re ready to try and extract algal oil

What you’ll need.

•       A handful of dried algae.

•       A garlic press

Fold the algae upon itself, and pack it into the garlic press. You don’t need a lot, just keep folding as much algae into the press as you can.

When the garlic press is full, simply slide the plunger over the algae, and press with all your

might. You may need to fold more algae into the press, if so, put more in.

Sometimes, the oil, being vicious, may take awhile to work its way out.

Keep pressing.

If even one drop of oil comes from the press. You’ve succeeded.

In reality, you should have more than that. But even one drop is a success.

At this point you need to try and identify factors which encouraged the algal oil growth.

If no oil comes out, then possibly…

• The local strain your using has a low lipid content. (Try another strain)

• You may need more algae for experimentation. (Get more algae, get a bigger press)

• You may want to try buying a established high lipid strain.

• More experimentation may be needed in the maximizing stage