[Lista-Algas] Fw: FAO is looking for algae projects to be included as case study in upcoming review publication

[Andrés Boltovskoy]

From: Sjors van Iersel (NRCD) 


Dear Madam, Sir,

 

The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) is currently working on a review of opportunities for the co-production of energy and other products from algae.

 

We are preparing a report which looks into breaking the economic barrier by co-producing energy and higher value products from algae, with a focus on applicability in developing countries. 

 

In this context, we are performing brief case-studies on existing algae-related projects. We would like to ask for your collaboration to showcase the achievements of your algae project(s), to be published in the second quarter of 2010 and made publicly available online. No information will be used for commercial purposes.

 

We do not require any sensitive proprietary or technical data, we are mainly interested in your general approach, supported by descriptive data. At your request we can send you the final version of the case-study for your approval.

 

The explicit aim is to provide informative examples of algae projects worldwide. Our study is not meant to advertize or market any projects. Where relevant, please try to make a clear distinction between claims, targets, forecasts, theoretical calculations, extrapolations, lab-scale results, field-scale results, proof, etc. The authors reserve the right to leave out available information if there are uncertainties or the information is not relevant for the purpose of the paper. 

 

Some questions regarding the most relevant topics are provided below. Relevant pictures or illustrations are also very welcome. 

 

Case study outline:

Please give a description of your algae-based production project (max 2 pages per project). Where possible, please include the answers to the questions below.

 

 

 

  a.. Algal (co-)products 
    a.. What are the (intended) products? 
    b.. What is the share of the products in the total dry algal biomass? 
    c.. What can you say about the market value and market size of each product? 
    d.. Do you consider co-producing other products (if so please indicate which)? 
    e.. What share of the total income is derived from which product? 
  b.. Developing countries 
    a.. Do you see any barriers or opportunities that are specific to developing countries for your project? 
    b.. Can the barriers be overcome? What would be needed? 
  c.. Cultivation system basics 
    a.. Please describe the cultivation system 
    b.. Does it rely on sweet water, brackish water or seawater? 
    c.. What is the (intended) nutrient source? 
    d.. What is the (intended) carbon source? 
    e.. Does the concept include waste treatment/other recycling? 
  d.. Project basics 
    a.. Where is the project located? 
    b.. What is the project budget? 
    c.. Who provides the project funding (public/private)? 
    d.. What is the runtime/age of the project? 
    e.. Who are the project partners and what type (university research, private research, NGO, government, oil industry, chemical industry, utilities etc)? 
    f.. What can you say about the commercialization status of the project? 
  e.. Concept basics 
    a.. What is the annual biomass yield per hectare? 
    b.. What is the current/projected surface size? 
    c.. What species is used? 
 

 

 

 

In case you have more than one algae-related project, you are free to supply multiple projects or pick your main project(s), but please describe each project individually. English is the preferred language, but we can also work with Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, German, French and Italian.

 

 

Background information:

As author of this review paper, I have been contracted by the FAO as an external consulting expert. This paper is a follow-up on a first review authored by me and published by the FAO in May 2009, can be found here: http://www.fao.org/bioenergy/aquaticbiofuels/abwg-activities. It gives an overview of algae-to-energy options, with a strong focus on sustainability issues. 

 

For any clarifications or other questions, you can reach me at Sjors.VanIersel at fao.org 

 

Apologies for crosspostings

 

 

Kind regards, 

            Sjors

 
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