Namibia Workshop SANUMARC Univeristy of Namibia, Hentiesbay 3 - 5 June 2010

Presenter Biographies

LABORATORY TO COMMERCIAL SCALE MICRO-ALGAE CULTURING: SUCCESS, FAILURES AND OPPORTUNITIES.

Many opportunities exist for the commercial exploitation of microalgae.

For many centuries microalgae have been used as a protein source for human nutrition, fertiliser in farming, aquaculture feed and for wastewater treatment. During the last century many novel products have been harnessed from microalgae for pharmaceutical applications. During recent times microalgae have gained enormous popularity as a potential source of renewable energy, but to-date no commercial process exists. The scale up from the laboratory to a commercial process is often underestimated during the algal evangelism too often reported in the media.

This presentation will explore the technical challenges for producing microalgae for specific end uses, including the difficulty of scaling up biological processes economically.

Presented by:

David Lewis is a chemical engineer and a senior lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Adelaide. He enrolled at the university as a mature-age undergraduate in 1993 whilst employed as an Electrical Fitter Mechanic, completing a B. Engineering (Chemical) Honours Degree in 1998. In 1999 David commenced a PhD in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, investigating the control of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) in drinking supply reservoirs.

David became a lecturer in 2002 and setup the Microalgal Engineering Research Group (MERG) with a research focus on sustainable water and wastewater quality & treatment, commercial and environmental applications for microalgae.

From 2002 to 2005 MERG undertook research to optimise media and physical growth conditions for heterotrophic production of specific microalgae for aquaculture feed. In 2008 the process was successfully scaled up from laboratory studies to commercialisation and is being trialled at an oyster hatchery in Port Lincoln. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach was used to ensure the commercial competitiveness of the novel process compared with existing large-scale culturing processes used in the aquaculture industry.  MERG have also applied LCA’s to winery wastewater treatment processes to assist the wine industry in optimising process operations and ultimately reduce their carbon footprint.

A key research project within MERG is the optimisation of microalgal removal from secondary treated wastewater for agricultural applications. This project has direct relevance to the challenge of harvesting microalgae from open ponds and the skills developed in this area will be of immeasurable use to our current renewable energy project (a fully integrated process for biodiesel production from microalgae in saline water – underway since early 2009).

Additionally MERG has projects in algal-based municipal and industrial wastewater treatment. The use of algal-based wastewater treatment offers a sustainable, low-energy alternative to current systems. The algae systems require minimal maintenance and provide treated water that meets EPA discharge guidelines, creates no solid wastes, can be retrofitted to produce biomethane (renewable energy) and provide reuse water for irrigation. MERG is also involved with extraction of bioactive compounds from microalgae for commercial application, which also has direct relevance to extraction of lipids from microalgae for biodiesel production.

David’s practical experience as a tradesman combined with his research background means that he is well equipped to undertake commercial and industrial scale research and development.