The A.I.M. Interview: Sandia and DOE's Ron Pate

(Algae Industry Magazine) A Principal Member of the Technical Staff of Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Sandia National Laboratories, serving in the Earth Systems Analysis – Energy, Resources, and Systems Analysis division, Ron Pate has been on M&O Contractor assignment in Washington, DC with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) in the Biomass Program for the past two years, bridging the gap between the science community and the DOE’s policy and financial support of algal technology development.

At Sandia, Ron has worked for over 25 years on a variety of technology and systems engineering research, development, testing, and analysis programs spanning the areas of national security, defense systems, sensors, energy systems, and critical resource issues. In recent years he has focused on biofuels and the interdependencies of energy, water and other key resources, and has led and contributed to Sandia teams engaged in program development and R&D projects in these related topic areas.

Well, first of all, there was the original DOE investment of about $25 million for the Aquatic Species Program that ran from 1978 – 1996[5]. The recently renewed interest and funding for algae biofuels RD&D at DOE has primarily been through DOE/EERE’s Office of Biomass Program (OBP). This began early in FY2009 with the initiation of the National Algae Biofuels Technology Roadmap effort[6]. Investments in algae took a big leap during the FY2009- FY2010 period with the addition of stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: ARRA[7]) funding on top of DOE’s normal program budget funds.

Total OBP investments in algae from FY2009-FY2011 add up to about $183 million. Of that, about $146 million was ARRA funding and about $37 million was program funding. The ARRA funding was invested in three algae-related Integrated Biorefinery (IBR) projects cost-shared with industry, two of which are pilot scale (Algenol, with $25M in DOE cost-share, and Solazyme, with $22M in DOE cost-share) and one demo scale (Sapphire, with $50M in DOE cost-share). The NAABB Algae Biofuels R&D Consortium project was also a cost-shared effort with industry, university, and national lab partners funded through DOE with $49M in ARRA contribution. Program funds from OBP have gone toward the support of three other cost-shared algae R&D consortium projects, and a number of additional algae-related projects with industry, universities, national labs, and the National Academy of Sciences.

Besides the OBP investments, DOE’s ARPA-e Program, Fossil Energy Program (through NETL, with focus on carbon capture), and the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program have each also invested additional funding recently in algae-related RD&D projects. As of last December, the total investment in algae by OBP, ARPA-e, Fossil Energy, and SBIR was about $236 million.

...Investment of a few hundred million dollars over several years is also small in comparison to the strategic importance of fuels to our economy and national security. When you consider that we spend something close to a $1 billion per day on petroleum imports alone, it puts things in more perspective!

...My own experience is that the so-called “valley of death” is a very real place when it comes to taking a technology idea from concept to commercial product, and it usually takes much longer time and requires much more investment than most people think.

...It’s important to keep in perspective that we’re talking here about strategic investment in U.S. innovation and technical improvement for the longer-term future of reliable and sustainable domestic fuel supplies critical to the nation’s economic and environmental health and security. This, in my opinion, brings national security and national economic well being arguments to the table for why federal investments are needed and appropriate to support critical RD&D involving longer lead times and technical risks that can’t be borne by, or left entirely to, short-range bottom-line market-driven industry decision.

...I think the main point to be made here is that DOE is investing in a portfolio of algae-related projects ranging in scale from laboratory research to pilot and demonstration scale integrated systems, as well as cross-cutting modeling, analysis, and preliminary assessment of techno-economics, LCA, resource use, and sustainability. These projects are addressing a wide range of technical and economic challenges using various approaches, and most have only been underway for a relatively short time and are still very much works in progress. Again, the next several years, as these and other projects progress and report results, will be important for seeing where we are with algae biofuels.

A good source of information on what’s going on with algae-related projects under OBP is to check out the 2011 OBP Program Review Portal[2]. This web site documents the peer review process the Biomass Program has gone through this year, broken down by topic area. By drilling down into each topic area, you can find peer review presentations on the activities, status, and future plans for nearly all of the projects funded under OBP.

...The future of algae biofuels will ultimately depend on how successful the industry can be in bringing production costs down at the scales needed for fuels. It will also clearly be influenced by the price and availability of petroleum and petroleum-based fuels, the cost and availability of other competing alternative fuels, and the investment and policy climate that exists in the country over the coming years.

...My opinion is that another decade or more may be required, depending on levels of investment made, to advance the science, engineering, practical experience, and objective testing and assessment associated with autotrophic microalgae systems at progressively larger scales.

...Heterotrophic algae, which uses more mature bioreactor technology, could have a shorter time scale, but that will depend on the availability of low-cost sugars and the ability to scale-up sustainable production to the high volumes and low cost levels needed to compete in the fuels markets rather than in the lower-volume high-value products markets.

...To get a better handle on the issues for autotrophic algae biofuels scale-up, several Sandia colleagues and I began a high-level analysis in late-2008 in support of DOE’s algae biofuels roadmap effort. Some of this analysis was summarized in a recently published peer reviewed paper in a special issue of the journal Applied Energy focused on Energy from Algae[2]. The results of this analysis have also been put into presentation form Algae Scale Up Assessment_RCPate_Sept2011_v2.

...Making unsubstantiated assertions and overly-optimistic claims will not hold up to careful scrutiny, and can end up causing problems for the industry as a whole by those who over-promise and under-deliver. READ MORE