Updates on Algal Biofuel Production in China

Moderator: Guangyi Wang Prof. & Director Tianjin Univ. Center for Marine Ecology School of Environ. Science & Engineering Tianjin University

2013 Bio Pacific Rim Summit, December 8-11, San Diego, USA Energy Challenges of China Over 60% energy imported abroad New Energy Policy  Reduce energy consumption and effectively control CO2 emission in the 12th “five-year”;

 By the end of the 12th five-year, non-fossil fuel consumption increased to 11.4% and major green house gases reduced by 8-20%;

 Food-crops can not be used to produce energy. Non-food fuel is the only option. 来源：国务院参事办公室 Advantages (cont’d) Advantages of Algal Biofuels Panel Speakers: Guangyi Wang (Tianjin University) Pengcheng Fu (Beijing University of Chemical Technology) Weiwen Zhang (Tianjin University) Zhongxin Yang (Hangzhou Xinwei Low-carbon Tech R&D Ltd)

2013 Bio Pacific Rim Summit, December 8-11, San Diego, USA Production of Biofuels and Chemicals Using Microalgae Isolated from the Coastal Regions of China

Prof. & Director Guangyi Wang Tianjin University Center for Marine Ecology School of Environmental Science & Engineering Tianjin University & Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School

2013 Bio Pacific Rim Summit, December 8-11, San Diego, USA R&D Program for Algal Biofuels R&D Program for Algal Biofuels and High-valued Bioproducts

Biodiversity & Life-cycle Analysis Extraction & environmental & environmental purification ecology impacts

Large-scale Strain Improvement Thraustochytrids production & photo- using synthetic & DHA/oil bioreactor designing approaches production

Biodiesel, aviation fuels, ethanol, protein, polysaccharide, materials etc. R&D Program (cont’d)

Isolation cultivation and characterisation of Biological diversity and ecology algal species from Shenzhen Bay and Pearl River Delta

To date >300 different species of local algae have been collected and identified.

Ongoing experiments focus on characterisation of the most suitable algal species for algal biofuel production (growth rate, lipid accumulation, starch accumulation). R&D Program (cont’d)

Distribution of algal species (A) and families (B) (Daroch et al., 2013) R&D Program for Algal Biofuels

Biological and chemical features of the microalgal strain PKUAC 169 (Daroch et al., 2013) R&D Program (cont’d)

Marine fungal Marine fungi and algae from coastal seawater and sediments contain a nutraceuticals wealth of compounds that provide health and medical benefits.

Thraustochytrids are biotechnologically potential marine protists: produce docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega- 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (ω-3 PUFA) that is important for human health and development.

Jain et al, 2007

Eicosapentaenoic acid R&D program (cont’d)

Nile red staining

Fatty acid profile

Liu et al, 2013 R&D Program (cont’d)

Large scale algae Biofuel production requires large productivities and development of cultivation, biomass production and photobioreactors. bioreactor design Large-scale Production

*40 metric tons of fresh biomas (8 tons dry weight) per mu (300 days) R&D Program (cont’d)

Production of liquid transportation fuel focuses on biodiesel and bio- Biofuel production kerosene and is currently achieved via chemical methods.

Future research will involve lipase- catalysed in situ transesterification of algal oils to biodiesel and production of bioethanol through metabolic engineering.

Lu et al. 2011 Extraction & Conversion

Extraction Transesterification Biodiesel Biodiesel & Aviation Fuels Micro-algal BioEthanol

Guo et al. 2013 Micro-algal BioEthanol (cont’d)

Growth curves and sugar/production production Guo et al. 2013 Micro-algal BioEthanol (cont’d)

PKUAC 12

PKUAC 9

Guo et al. 2013 Algal Ethanol (cont’d)

Ethanol production using hydrolysates from algal biomass

 Optimization of saccharification processes;  Engineering strains for 5-carbon sugars. Summary  Low diversity of microalgal strains is found in the coastal waters of China;  Thraustochytrids are rich in fatty acids and good resources for DHA and biodiesel production  Hindakia PKUAC 169 is good candidate for biodiesel production  Salt stress yielded 3 times more lipid productivity than nitrogen starvation;  Predominantly composed of C14-C18 fatty acids;  Content of PUFA below 12% (EN14214).  Scenedesmus abundans PKUAC 12 is a good candiate for ethanol production  total sugars of 10.75 g L-1 and glucose 5.73 g L-1 ;  103.0 g EtOH/kg dry weight (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Acknowledgements

 Reform and Development Commission of Shenzhen Municipal Government (China);  Natural National Science Foundation of China;  Hawaii Marine Renewable Energy Test Center-USDOE;  “985” Supporting Funds from Department of Education (Tianjin University, China);  Designated Marine Industrial R&D Program of State Oceanic Administration (China). Thank You!