Alberta's energy future
Anthony Kovats Thursday April 17, 2008
Who could have thought that a possible solution to our prolific carbon footprint could be tackled by something as small as, and as seemingly unexciting as, alga?
And yet, for Olds College director and scientific leader Dr. Abimbola Abiola, the tiny organism has the potential to capture carbon dioxide, literally feeding the gas to CO2 hungry alga and allowing the organism to create value-added byproducts.
Abiola, guest speaker at the Leduc Nisku EDA’s regular breakfast meeting in New Sarepta March 18, spoke to the growing urgency of dealing with a looming energy crisis, the need to enhance biodiesel applications and quality if only on a small scale, and to look at alternatives for reducing our growing carbon footprint including the feeding and cultivation of algae. The college’s advanced research team is even exploring the possibilities of biopesticides in its state-of-the-art 1,800-square-metre greenhouse that serves not only as a classroom, but also as a research centre.
Of course, the forever-interlinked issue of the environment and energy are foremost for the college as Abiola said it moves forward with innovative ways to make biodiesel products more effective, especially in cold climates, and to reduce its production dependency on food stuffs.
Abiola said the reality is we’re thirsty for fuel. Thirsty for an energy source that can drive our advancing infrastructure and as energy prices continue to skyrocket the need to improve alternative energy sources like biofuel has never been more pressing.
“We believe that, maybe sooner than we think, it is the way we are going. The purpose of biodiesel is to create a clean alternative fuel and we can use it for transportation, generating electricity and heating and little or no modifications are required,” Abiola said.
He said the college has been exploring integrated storage and blending and dispensing systems which are designed to address some of the cold-flow challenges associated with biodiesel. The system allows for the storage store and blending biodiesel with regular diesel year-round for use in fleet vehicles and school buses within the community of Olds.
As one of six schools in the Academic Division, the Olds College School of Innovation which Abiola heads, links faculty, students and research projects together. Biodiesel, which Abiola admitted has a limited application at this point, is just one of the exciting alternatives the school explores.
Another is algae.
Now, the concept isn’t new.
Several attempts have been tried over the years to develop algae bioreactor systems that can be attached to natural gas-fired or coal power plants with the idea being that CO2 emissions from these operations can be directed to an algae farms where the organisms gorge on the gas. They are then harvested and used to make alternative products like biodiesel, ethanol, some plastics and animal feed.
And intuitive leaps in this direction could greatly reduce the need for fossil fuels.
The problem is the process is expensive and if left unchecked in terms of harvesting, the fattened algae calf begins to die off. Another problem developing this technology suitable for this northern county is once again, our dropping temperatures.
However, in March the Tory minority government announced it would contribute $100,000 toward a project designing microalgae systems. Not a huge contribution, but at least it kick-starts some serious research. Members include the National Research Council, Abiola’s research centre at Olds College, and the University of Saskatchewan, just to name a few.
It's the first project under the newly created I-CAN Centre for the Conversion of Carbon Dioxide, and will be headed by government research groups from the three western provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan and Quebec.
Collectively, the group intends to build a commercial "photo bioreactor" within three years. If successful, an algae operation that absorbs CO2 and creates biodiesel as a byproduct, could have incredibly proactive benefits to an industry as complex as the Alberta tarsands.
“I believe we are going to the next generations of biodiesel technology and I also believe that in many of our projects we will be ahead.”
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