What will the world be like in ten years? Nanobots that cure cancer or a cool VR game about being apple pie. Of course we laugh when we look at these glorious visions of the future, but incredible advancements are in the works right now. Flying cars are being developed in Dubai, nanoscale 4D printing is being done in New York, and AR and VR therapy is being used in California.
The future could be incredibly advanced at the current rate of technological achievement… but not if many innovative cities globally are underwater in the near future. The rate of sea level rising is continually increasing and in 2050, in only 30 years, the homes of 300 million people will be underwater.
In ten years, the effects of climate change will really start to begin: loss of coastlines, extinction of even more species, and supercharged natural disasters. The United Nations Climate Change Panel (UNIPCC) alerts that by 2030 the damage caused by climate change will be irreversible. That leaves us only 10 years to take action on this issue.
800 million people are impacted by direct effects of climate change, droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events, 1 million species are on the verge of extinction, and carbon levels are the highest in 3 million years. Despite the utter importance and severity of this issue, the powers that be are content to let the world burn. Efforts like the Paris Climate Agreement are a good first step, but they should have been made years ago. Anyways, no crying over spilt milk, or in this case ruined ecosystems, and the future depends on what we do in the present — and how quickly and effectively.
Introducing Algexx.
At Algexx, we will be growing large scale algae farms and producing algae boxes to convert carbon to biofuel in high carbon areas with less space, like near factories and in cities. Our algae boxes will remove the need for moving the algae to a separate location for refining the biofuel, which can be expensive and time consuming. Since the algae will be genetically modified to have a faster growth rate and larger oil yield, our costs are also lower than other approaches to create biofuel.
Our boxes will be layered to have a large surface area of bioreactors on the top layer. Half the algae will then be filtered every six hours so that the lipids are continuously extracted to be turned into biofuel.
Current approaches of carbon sequestration are expensive and inefficient. Ideas such as ocean floor storage of carbon, geological sequestration (storage underground in oil and gas reservoirs), and other physical and chemical processes have been explored, but the dangers currently are too high. When carbon is stored anywhere, pressure builds and the carbon itself in a high concentration can disrupt and harm the ecosystem and any life around it. Algae bioreactors also exist today, but not in the most efficient form.
How do Bioreactors Work?
There are many different types of bioreactors, but we will be using tubular photobioreactors as the base for our boxes. These are a type of closed bioreactor that uses sunlight, nutrients, and water along with algae to absorb the carbon. The vertical or horizontal tubes are clear glass or plastic, but as materials evolve, we will most likely find a cheaper and more environmentally friendly material. The tubes have a small diameter to allow for direct sunlight exposure for the algae, and by having a large square area layer of these tubes, we can maximize efficiency of producing lipids to convert to biofuel.
Genetic Modification of Algae
We will start by using single celled green algae called Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that will be genetically modified to have the main enzyme called diacylglycerol acyltransferase (BnDGAT2) that is present in Brassica Napus. Brassica Napus is a rapeseed plant that is part of the mustard family, and it has very oil rich seeds. We will basically be adding the desired parts of the mustard plant to the algae to perfect the algae plant for our production of biofuel.
This enzyme will be present in the endoplasmic reticulum of the algae cell, and will increase the concentration of triglycerides (lipids/ fat) in the cell. Increasing the fat in each algae cell produces more biofuel oil, and by increasing the amount of oil produced per acre of algae, the production of biofuel becomes more economically viable.
We will also use prolines to enhance the growth of the algae. We can genetically engineer the algae to over-express glutamine synthetase, an enzyme already present in algae, to increase the concentration of 2-hydroxy-5-oxoproline (a metabolite that impacts growth rate).
These two methods of genetic engineering will help us create the ideal algae for our bioreactors, and sets us apart from other biofuel businesses as our production is the fastest and most cost effective.
As genetic modification techniques continue to improve over the next few years, we can continue to update our plans. We can also expand our plans to other organisms, such as plankton and other eukaryotic algae species over time.
Cost Analysis
Algexx will generate revenue by selling biofuel to replace gas for transportation and by creating algae boxes for factories to reduce their carbon emissions. The boxes are bioreactors that will be located on rooftops of factories to absorb their flue gas and convert it into biofuel. Government subsidies are also an option to help fund the distribution and installment of these boxes.
Current algae biofuel is not economically viable, and since fossil fuels are much cheaper and easier to produce, they are more widely used even though we know about the harmful environmental effect these fossil fuels have. By using genetically modified algae, we increase the crop yield and the growth rate of the algae, producing more biofuel per acre of land at a faster rate. As our prices continue to decrease while the technology evolves, we are competitive with — and will become better than — current fossil fuel suppliers.
As with any company, we have expenses to pay for before the inflow of cash. We will start by buying land and equipment for farming algae. Our farms would be mostly automatic and then we would have to transport the algae to a central location. The production of the algae boxes would also have to be done. Our expenses would be paid off quickly by selling the biofuel produced and by setting up the boxes near factories and other high carbon areas.
Currently, considering that algal oil has 80–90% of the capacity of crude oil when refined and that only 30% of each algae cell is the fat that is converted to oil, algae biofuel costs about $5.30 per gallon. This is pretty expensive compared to petroleum, which costs about $1.50 per gallon. However, at Algexx, we would become competitive in two ways:
- Increase concentration of lipids in algae cell → Assuming that our process of genetic modification doubles the concentration of lipids in the algae (according to research, it is viable to more than double the concentration of lipids, but we will assume we only double for now), we can receive double the amount of oil from the same cell mass, cutting the price in half to $2.15.
- Increase growth rate of algae → Since algae already has a relatively fast growth rate (3–6 hours for reproduction), we can hope to increase this rate by 30%. Assuming that the genetically modified algae can reproduce in about 2–2.5 hours. This would allow us to produce a little more than double (~2.25 times) the amount of algae in the same timeframe as current algae biofuel businesses. This would also cut the cost, bringing our new cost to $0.96 per gallon.
Our cost analysis is ambitious, but is fully viable according to research. Some factors that must be accounted for are the environment in which the algae is grown, cost of land and maintenance of the algae, and cost to genetically modify the algae. Genetic modification of the algae will be the main cost for us compared to other companies, but the techniques of genetic modification continue to decrease (ex. CRISPR/Cas9).
Even after these expenses are added, our cost will be around $1.30 per gallon of algae, which is very similar and even slightly lower than petroleum. While algae biofuel itself may not be the future, genetically modified algae biofuel very well could be.
Future Plans
As of right now, we will be researching and developing the genetically modified algae, ensuring that it is safe for the environment. We will also be organizing the government subsidies and finding partners to sell the biofuel to. Additionally, we will buy land and set up algae farms in primary locations.
In two years, we will be selling the biofuel and distributing boxes to factories. The farms will be run automatically, constantly producing more algae and biofuel to be distributed. We will be expanding our land area and continuing to research and test other methods of bioreactors, such as plankton.
In five years, all gas stations will have algae biofuel instead of gas. We will be expanding to provide plane fuel. Our boxes will be widely distributed and will be updated to run even more efficiently.
In ten years, all transportation will be running on biofuel. Our biofuel will be distributed to more locations globally and we will have global farmlands. Our biofuel will be used for multiple applications, and will be utilized in multiple industries. Algexx will be leading global efforts for carbon sequestration and continuing to combat climate change.
Key Takeaways
- Algexx: creating a world run entirely on biofuel.
- Algexx Algae Boxes — boxes filled with algae put in high carbon areas that convert CO2 to biofuel within the box using the flue gas emission.
- Algae farms located globally to mass produce algae and biofuel.
- Genetically modified algae to grow faster and produce more oil than current biofuel making it economically viable.
- By adding DGAT enzymes to green microalgae, we increase the concentration of lipids in the cells → more biofuel!
- By over-expressing the G. synthase enzyme, the algae will produce more of the protein dealing with growth rate → faster growth!
- In ten years → all transportation running on biofuel and Algexx, along with other companies, combating climate change for a cleaner and greener Earth.
If you would like to learn more about Algexx, check out more of our content linked below!
Our website: Algexx.com
Our one pager: Algexx One Pager
Our video: Introduction to Algexx
About Us
Ria Dani, riadani27@gmail.com
Alec Stern, alecboazstern@gmail.com
Maya Kasbekar, mayakasbekar@gmail.com
Carlos Saeh, carlos.saeh@gmail.com
Thank you for reading!
