Michigan State University partners with ExxonMobil to improve algal biofuels

A new $1 million (appr. €890,000) relationship between Michigan State University (MSU) and ExxonMobil will expand research designed to progress the fundamental science required to advance algae-based fuels.

The overall goal of the partnership is to improve the efficiency of photosynthesis in microalgae to produce biofuels and bioproducts.

The key to bioenergy is the efficiency of photosynthesis, the process algae use to capture solar energy and the first step in converting the energy from the sun into a liquid fuel.

Past research has shown that algae photosynthesis can be highly efficient under optimal conditions in the laboratory, but under realistic growth conditions this efficiency drops.

But according to David Kramer, MSU’s John Hannah Distinguished Professor in photosynthesis and bioenergetics at the MSU-DOE Plant and Research Laboratory (PRL), nature has fortunately provided a great potential for improvement.

‘There are many different strains of algae that have adapted to work well in different environments. What we want to do is figure out how they are able to do this and what genes are responsible. With this knowledge, we can potentially combine traits to make strains that are more efficient even under harsh conditions,’ Kramer says.

The project will take advantage of these natural variations as well as a suite of new technologies developed by the Kramer lab at PRL that allow rapid, high-throughput testing of photosynthetic efficiency of many algal lines under simulated growth conditions.

One of these technologies, developed through a grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) is a matrix of specialized chambers, called the environmental PhotoBioReactor, that allow algae to be studied in detail under simulated production environments.

The second Kramer lab technology, developed with support from the Photosynthetic Systems and Physical Biosciences programmes at the DOE, is called PhotosynQ and is a network of portable sensors called MultispeQ that are being used by many researchers around the world to probe photosynthesis.

These sensors allow the Kramer lab to measure the photosynthetic processes in many algal cultures at the same time under different conditions to learn why some strains are more efficient than others.

ExxonMobil’s goal with the project is to have algae bio-oils processed in its refineries to supplement crude oil as the raw material to manufacture gasoline, diesel, aviation fuels, and marine fuels.

In addition to fuels, the company also is examining potential applications for other products such as chemicals and lubricants.

‘We continue to evaluate our best options for continued algae biology research as a part of a broad biofuels research effort. We are looking forward to working with MSU on this project,’ says Vijay Swarup, vice president of ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.

‘Algae biofuels research and development is a long-term endeavour and we are partnering with some of the leading scientists in the fields to better understand the fundamental science and support their groundbreaking research.’