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APS is currently conducting a demonstration project of GreenFuel Technology that produces biofuel from algae grown from power plant emissions.
The APS demonstration is based upon technology first implemented using emissions from the physical plant on the campus at MIT and based on an MIT scientist’s work for NASA. The purpose of the demonstration is to determine the feasibility for a commercial process. The APS Demonstration adapts the processes developed in Boston, by GreenFuel Technologies, to the Arizona climate, and to determine the effectiveness of algae to photosynthetically convert flue gas carbon dioxide into fuel.
Flue gas from the Company’s Redhawk Power Plant stack is piped to biosolar reactors containing select natural algae. Since the algae consume carbon dioxide in the presence of sunlight (photosynthesis), the goal is to recycle carbon in an economical manner by periodically harvesting and processing the algae into biodiesel fuel, which can be used in place of diesel fuel in applications such as our line trucks. If the project demonstrates economical potential, the algae also could be gasified and fed back into the combustion turbines at Redhawk, reducing fuel demand. Or, in the case of a coal plant, it could just be mixed in with the coal without any fuel prep. This process may lead to an economical reduction of APS’ CO2 footprint.
The results from the initial tests conducted in 2005 have been the most successful of any know tests worldwide and show promise for a commercial process, with an estimated biofuel production of 1,500 MMBTU/year per acre.
The APS project shows significant advantages compared to other biological systems:
- Annual biomass production rates in desert conditions that yield 20 to 70 times more vegetable oil/liquid biofuel than conventional crops grown on productive land
- Algae productivity with the GreenFuel process up to 10 times greater than previous DOE studies and double the productivity of commercial algae facilities
We will continue testing of this system in 2006.
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