Northern Ontario mining lands may one day also serve as active producers of microalgae for biofuel and health-industry biochemicals, if researchers from Laurentian University and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine have their way.
Sudbury scientists are turning their eyes to lands adjacent to smelters such as Sudbury based Xstrata Nickel operations, where carbon dioxide emissions could help feed the growth of microalgae in specially-designed systems set up on so-called “non-productive” portions of mining lands.
Rather than the large clumps of weeds sometimes seen floating in area lakes, this particular type of algae is made up of “single-cellular little green things” that cannot be seen by the naked eye and gives a greenish tinge to any body of water, according to Dr. Ashley Scott of Laurentian’s School of Engineering.
These microscopic plants provide 30 times more oil feedstock for use in biodiesel per hectare than plants like canola, and could be processed to extract any number of valuable chemicals for use in natural health products.
“The goal is to produce a menu of products as opposed to one single product,” says Scott.
“One could be higher-volume and locally consumed like biofuels, and one could be lower-volume but higher value which you could purify and sell off elsewhere.”
A biochemical engineer by background, Scott has known for some time the genuine value in algae, particularly for biodiesel use. In fact, part of the impetus for kicking off the project has been the increasing interest from a number of mining companies looking for alternative energy sources for underground operations.
Rather than the “warm and fuzzies” of environmental benefits, the idea is that biodiesel contains less sulfur dioxide and particulates, and therefore, requires less ventilation, something that is costly for mining houses.
There is the potential that Northern Ontario can become a large-scale biodiesel production manufacturer for the market, says Scott. This means batches could be produced in the North and used by Northern mining operations.
Existing commercial plants for microalgae are typically based in warm, sunny locales such as California, Israel and Hawaii, often making use of salt water, rather than freshwater.
After first examining the potential to recover energy from the water pumped out of mine sites, Scott soon turned his eye to the “huge quantities of heat literally going up the smelter stacks” in the form of carbon dioxide. It made him think of the huge potential for algal growth if one could capture that heat.
He believed in the project’s value and coincidently, so too did Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s associate dean of research Dr. Greg Ross, but for different reasons.
Over a beer the two discussed the health-industry appeal of additional chemicals that could be extracted on top of the biodiesel feedstock.
This includes compounds like Omega 3 and Omega 6 and a variety of anti-oxidants. While most people currently consume fish to obtain those benefits, it’s the algae eaten by the fish that provide those fatty acids and not the fish themselves.
With a very high-quality protein source, the microalgae makes lots of biochemicals with “a lot of terrific potential in the health field,” says Ross.
“It’s an amazing project and it really represents some terrific opportunities,” says Ross.
“We’ve known for a long time there are great value in algae and we’ve known there’s great assets at the mines to put to good use, so we think this project is a great one that’s going to utilize things we’re not taking advantage of now.”
While a commercial operation could feature several raceway-style troughs running 100 metres long, five metres wide and 20 centimetres deep, Scott is targeting the construction of a “pre-pilot plant” on Xstrata Nickel lands this summer. The considerably smaller-scale operation will be little more than a few cubic metres at the outset, with the idea of moving to increasingly larger designs as the project progresses.
The idea is to keep construction and maintenance of the system a simple affair, with spare parts that could easily be obtained, rather than having to mail away to Tokyo or Houston, he says. The more complex the system, the more expensive it becomes and the more prohibitive it is to maintain.
What’s more, the simplicity would also mean only mild adjustments would be required to adapt it for use on mine sites the world over.
With some tweaking, the project could also be applicable to a variety of other industrial sites such as steel mills, power generation as well as pulp and paper.
The project, which recently received $250,000 in financial support through MITACS Inc., will employ seven graduate and post-graduate interns.
Continued financial support is still being sought, but the project has already attracted industrial sponsors such as the Ottawa-based Sussex Research Inc. and AI Consultants Inc.
“I’ve spent decades doing this kind of work, and this is one of the most interesting projects I’ve ever done,” says Scott.
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