Clean Break » Pond Biofuels

Video tour: Pond Biofuels turns cement plant emissions into algae

Tyler — Sat, 07 May 2011 13:40:14 +0000

I had the opportunity this week to visit a St. Marys Cement plant in the small and scenic town of St. Marys, Ontario. A subsidiary of Brazilian cement giant Votorantim Cimentos, the company is working with Toronto-based Pond Biofuels on a project that turns smokestack emissions from the plant into algae. The algae, based on a strain taken from the local Thames River, gobble up CO2, SOx, NOx and other pollutants that are piped into special algae photobioreactors, two of which are housed in a pilot facility located beside the plant. The algae are harvested and can be dried using low-grade waste heat from the cement plant’s kilns. The dried algae can then be burned in the plant’s kilns instead of petroleum coke, helping to reduce the plant’s CO2 emissions. Alternatively — and if the economics justify it — the algae can be processed into biodiesel and other green fuels/chemicals.

I decided, for the first time, to take a video camera with me and film a walkthrough of the pilot facility to give my readers a better sense of how this all works. I’m new to this whole video and movie editing game, but I did manage to put something decent together, which I post here as a YouTube upload. It’s nearly 10 minutes long, but if you’re interested in the process you may find it worth watching. Like I said, it’s my first time doing this — I would appreciate any constructive feedback.

Lafarge’s Ontario plant still on track for biomass burn in cement kilns

Tyler — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:02:17 +0000

When I wrote earlier about Pond Biofuels and its work with St. Marys Cement, I mentioned that Lafarge’s plan to burn biomass fuel in its cement kiln in Bath, Ontario, was on hold because of the financial difficulties of its Kingston-based partner, Performance Plants, which had bioengineered a variety of drought-resistant grass/tree species to grow on marginal farmlands. According to Lafarge, however, the project is continuing on course despite the troubles at Performance Plants. Here’s how Robert Cumming, manager of environmental affairs at Lafarge Canada, explained the situation in a recent e-mail:

Performance Plants is indeed experiencing financing difficulties and they haven’t decided on their next steps yet. I can only hope that they emerge with a new business plan that would allow their patented plant traits to be applied to purpose grown biofuel crops at some point. When the time comes that energy crops become widespread, their technologies will be much needed.

However, on a more positive note, their status doesn’t affect the next steps in the project. We’re still a go for our test at the Bath plant in June. We have almost 1000 bales stored on our site from the local farm production in 2009 and we also have all of the necessary Ministry permits for the trial.

Also, at the same time we have completed the first year of our 3-year Life Cycle Assessment project with Queens [University]. This LCA is based on real world measurements from our own farm plots on Lafarge land. Our goal is to confirm preliminary estimates that purpose grown baled crops can produce a 90 per cent NET carbon savings and to learn what would be needed to make that 100 per cent.

For background on what Lafarge is doing, click here. There are many who question the use of biomass as fuel, whether as a feedstock for biofuel or to directly replace the burning of coal and oil. Concerns related to the sustainability of biomass harvesting are real, but not insurmountable. As long as there’s no competition with food crops and as long as the biomass — whether dedicated crops like switchgrass or forest waste — is harvested in a way that doesn’t impact local ecosystems, then biomass can play an important role as we try to lower greenhouse-gas emissions and tackle air/soil/water pollution. No single energy sources is going to do it. We need everything in the toolbox.

Cement maker first in world to capture CO2 with algae

Tyler — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:32:54 +0000

We all know that making cement is an energy-intensive process, so when carbon prices are introduced in North America it’s going to have a major impact on an industry that quite literally lays at the foundation of our economy. In Ontario, cement maker St. Marys Cement — now part of Brazilian conglomerate Groupo Votorantim – has partnered with stealthy startup Pond Biofuels of Toronto on a project that, since last fall, has already started to capture CO2 from a cement plant in southwestern Ontario. It’s believed to be the first project of its kind in the world. Pond Biofuels, the three-year-old company that developed the processes and algae bioreactor technology behind the project, hopes to demonstrate that the system can be scaled up to accept the emissions from an entire plant or any other energy-intensive industrial facility. In the case of St. Marys, the algae will be harvested, dried using industrial waste heat, and then used to offset fossil fuels that are currently used in its cement kilns. In essense, the CO2 will be recycled over and over again. The company, which became a strategic investor in Pond Biofuels last year, is also investigating the idea of producing biodiesel from the algae that can be used to fuel its own truck fleet.

There are many algae technology companies out there, but it’s nice to see these two Ontario companies actually doing something outside of the lab in a way that directly meets the needs of industry. In fact, Pond Biofuels has its sights set on China as well. The company revealed in December that its St. Marys project had been approved as part of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate program. This means it will get funding to do a feasibility study that will assess the suitability of its technology for the cement industry in China.

Two Canadian CO2-suckers get funding: CO2 Solution, Pond Biofuels

Tyler — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:33:21 +0000

Algae or enzymes? That is the question. Both are moving forward as an approach to capturing CO2, and both are getting funding. Quebec City-based CO2 Solution announced last week that Codexis Inc. acquired a 17-per-cent stake in the company for $2 million. The two companies have signed a joint development agreement whereby they will collaborate on the use of “enzymatic carbon capture” technology. CO2 Solution has developed a process that relies on the enzyme carbonic anhydrase to extract carbon dioxide from the smokestacks of coal power and industrial plants. This particular enzyme is used by humans and other mammals to extract CO2 from the blood stream that is later exhaled. Codexis brings to the table a way to improve the ability of this enzyme to thrive in harsh industrial environments. The companies are betting that this approach will be less energy-intensive and therefore less expensive than other solutions in development or on the market.

Meanwhile, Toronto-based Pond Biofuels Inc. says one of its CO2-to-algae demonstration projects has been approved as part of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate program. The company, in partnership with cement manufacturer St. Marys Cement, has established a microalgae facility that uses CO2 from the neighbouring cement plant as a source of nutrients for the organisms. The algae is then expected to be harvested and used as biomass fuel in the plant’s cement kiln. Pond Biofuels will now get funding under the Asia-Pacific Partnership for a feasibility study that will assess the suitability of its technology for the cement industry in China.