Montana State University Algae Research Could Make Biofuel Production More Economical

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February 18, 2019

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by Anne James and Marshall Swearingen (KSEN) In an effort to improve the feasibility of a renewable energy source, Montana State University researchers are exploring a potential breakthrough in producing biofuel from algae.

Backed by a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the research team — which includes scientists from University of Toledo and University of North Carolina — is in the early stages of a three-year project aimed at developing a biofuel process that could bypass a limitation that has long hampered the industry, according to Robin Gerlach, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in MSU’s Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering.

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Now, the researchers think that a recently discovered strain of algae could be cultivated using only the ambient carbon dioxide of the atmosphere.

“We’re really excited about this,” said Brent Peyton, professor of chemical and biological engineering and director of MSU’s Thermal Biology Institute. Together with Gerlach and others, Peyton has studied algae biofuels at MSU for more than a decade.
The algae, called SLA-04, was discovered by the project’s University of Toledo researchers in an eastern Washington lake containing high levels of carbonate minerals similar to baking soda. In the lake’s unique environment, these algae have been shown to metabolize ambient carbon dioxide very efficiently, Peyton said.

“In the past we’ve found some algae and tried them out (with making biofuel),” Peyton said. “Now we’re using state-of-the-art tools to move the technology forward. This is really quite advanced for a project on algae biofuel.”

For instance, the team will sequence the algae’s DNA and then use a process called metabolic mapping to identify which genes correspond with the algae’s biochemical strategies under a variety of conditions.

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Using the metabolic models, Blake Wiedenheft, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in MSU’s College of Agriculture and the College of Letters and Science, will explore the use of the genome editing technique called CRISPR for enhancing the algae’s ability to produce the oils desired for biofuel. READ MORE

Green gas? MSU performs algae biofuel research (KTVH; includes VIDEO)

US university’s algae research could lower costs of biodiesel production (Biofuels International)

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