Bebout and Associates of Savannah and its partners Enegis LLC of Virginia and the University of Nevada at Reno (UNR) recently completed construction of four algae ponds on the Reno campus. The first algae crop is expected to be harvested in October of this year.

The ponds were constructed so that they may be used individually or in tandem, permitting the widest possible range of experimentation with different species/varieties of algae as well as factors which control algae productivity and growth.

The ponds, which are uncovered and open to the environment, will demonstrate that algae can be grown in commercial quantities year-round, even in a temperate climate. This will obviate the need for capital-intensive bioreactors or covered ponds. Appropriate growing temperatures will be maintained using natural resources readily available in Nevada.

The alga variety currently being grown was selected and cultured by UNR. Pond design and construction was done by Bebout and Enegis with the assistance of UNR graduate students and staff.

Work has already begun on the downstream aspects of algae-to-biodiesel production. Bebout and Enegis are developing several low-energy demand methods for extracting the oil from the algae which will be tested over the next nine to twelve months.

Future plans include scaling up to around 200 acres of ponds, sufficient to produce more than 1,000,000 gallons of biodiesel per year. We believe that the methodologies and technologies being developed will result in high-quality biodiesel that can compete in price per gallon with both current domestic biodiesel production and imported fuels.