Algal Biofuels: Will San Diego become the "Green Houston"?

Many have argued that Algal Biofuels hold promise as an alternative fuel source and that San Diego is well situated to become the "Green Houston".

Can biotechnology revolutionize the oil industry by creating algal biomass with high lipid content that can feed directly into industrial petroleum refineries?

Will San Diego County play a central role in this beyond the pilot plant?

Will refineries dot the horizon in the future and be colocated with the algal ponds so as to sequester the CO2 from the production process?

Modern algae research indicates many reasons to be hopeful that algae can play a competitive role in our alternative energy future. 

With regards to cost, a recent study indicated that there are many benefits to co-location with wastewater treatment facilities equipped with decomposers that collect natural gas.

Like many chemical feedstocks in production today, there will be little waste as we will be able to utilize many aspects of the biomass created from Algae production and once we are able to realize some economies of scale, it seems that the price of Algal biofuels will come down as well.

With the hundreds of thousands of species of Algae in the world, and through modern genomic advances, we are nearing the brink of an Algae revolution.

One concern of note is with growing non-native Algae in our Oceans, Rivers, and Lakes. Given the risks of algal blooms and unknown consequences of some of these newly discovered and developed species, it seems that scale-up of non-native species should be performed in pilot plants and production facilities as this stage of research. 

Growth of Algae in plastic bags with osmotic membranes is being researched as a means of containment, but hopefully not with non-native Algae.  A genetically modified algae should be investigated and risks assessed before carelessly contaminating the Ocean's with significantly altered DNA.  That's one massive experiment that could not be undone easily.

The Graduate's New Word: Algae

The popular line from The Graduate can usher in the new era now... "One word. Plastics." can now be described as "One word. Algae."
 

Thanks to the rapidly advancing field of Algaculture, the blue-green revolution continues at a hopeful pace.  This is not breaking news, but there are signs that this technology is reaching a practical level faster than expected.  Exxon and General Atomics are investing hundreds of millions of dollars on applied research.  If this doesn't give you hope for the process, than consider the other potential uses of algae as a dietary supplement, water treatment, and other beneficial uses.

Not all algae is created equal though and in many cases, algal blooms have a devastating effect on local ecosystems.  In the Sacramento River, the first 40 miles of river are as pristine as the headwaters at the base of Mt. Shasta.  Once the river dips into agricultural land, the nutrient rich runoff and slower waters are perfect for Algae blooms.  The clarity of the water is drastically reduced and the algae clings to rocks and increases turbidity.  Perhaps this is a contributor to the decline in fish populations, it's not the algae's fault though, they are merely being fed an endless buffet of nitrates and phosphates from fertilizer runoff from one of the greatest Agricultural areas in the United States.

Would it be possible to trap the runoff before it hits the river and allow Algal blooms to be contained in pools and harvested for nutrients and potential biofuel?  Could we improve river water quality by fixing the nitrogen in the Algae before it contaminates the river?  Could farmers utilize this veggie diesel/biofuel to power their tractors, combines, and shakers and reduce their reliance on traditional diesel?  All of this remains to be proven through basic applied research, but from an early stage analysis of the state of the art and the millions of dollars of investment from big oil companies, I believe that the answer is yes.