Download the Algal Biofuels Roadmap draft document - Sandia

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1. Introduction
About the Roadmap
The framework for National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap was constructed at the
Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap Workshop, held on December 9 and 10, 2008 at the
University of Maryland College Park. The Workshop was organized by the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy‘s
Biomass Program to discuss and identify the critical barriers currently preventing the
development of a domestic, commercial-scale algal biofuels industry.
Microalgae offer great promise to contribute a significant (=< 100%) portion of the
renewable fuels that will be required to meet the U.S. biofuel production target of 36
billion gallons by 2022, as mandated in the Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007 under the Renewable Fuels Standard. In the longer term, biofuels derived from
algae represent an opportunity to dramatically impact the U.S. energy supply for
transportation fuels. The cultivation of algae at a commercial scale could provide
sufficient fuel feedstock to meet the transportation fuels needs of the entire United States,
while being completely compatible with the existing transportation fuel infrastructure
(refining, distribution, and utilization). Further, algal biofuels could prove sustainable for
generations – they consume CO2 as a nutrient, have a much higher yield potential than
other terrestrial biomass feedstocks, and can be grown with non-fresh water sources
without needing to use high-value arable land. However, despite their huge potential, the
state of technology for producing algal biofuels is regarded by many in the field to be in
its infancy. There is a general consensus that a considerable amount of research,
development, and demonstration (RD&D) needs to be carried out to provide the
fundamental understanding and scale-up technologies required before algal-based fuels
can be produced sustainably and economically enough to be cost-competitive with
petroleum-based fuels. For this reason, a major objective of the Workshop was to help
define the activities that will be needed to resolve the challenges associated with
commercial-scale algal biofuel production and lay the framework for an algal biofuels
technology roadmap.
The Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap Workshop brought together the
interdisciplinary expertise needed to fully discuss the promise and challenges of a
commercial algal biofuels industry. The Workshop and the reporting process were
designed to be as inclusive and transparent as possible. More than 200 participants were
invited to attend the Workshop and broadly represented stakeholders from different areas
of industry, academia, the United States national laboratory system, as well as
governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations. Over the course of the
two days, the Workshop produced a very stimulating look at the growing algal biofuels
industry and the opportunity to explore the science and engineering challenges that must
be overcome to realize the sustainable production of algal biofuels at commercial scale.
The Workshop participants drew on their experience and expertise during a series of
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