Reviewer Comments - EERE

2011 Algae Platform Review – Reviewer Comments
Reviewer Comments are direct transcripts of commentary and material provided by the Platform’s
Review Panel. They have not been edited or altered by the Biomass Program.
strongly demonstrate the advantages of the new strains isolated to the latitude. Six different batches of
128 water samples were assayed with robust growth in flue gas enriched, well-buffered media. Over 40
unique strains have been identified to date, mostly green algae. The project developed a process to deliver
simulated flue gas. They hope to bring Univ. of Minnesota personnel in during last part of project to assist
with studies of wastewater nutrient supply and mixotrophic algal growth.
Reviewer: 3 Criteria Score: 5
Project Goals: •NREL: Bioprospecting for microalgal strains with suitable characteristics for cultivation
in northern latitudes •SNL: Site analysis and production modeling for cultivation of microalgal strains in
selected regions of Canada and northern US •PNNL: Evaluation of macroalgae species common to the US
and Canada for biofuel production
Reviewer: 5 Criteria Score: 3
The stated objective is strain collection and screening for lipid producing strains and characterization of
lipids (focusing on strains collected in Canada). However, in light of the repeated failure of previous algal
screening efforts in yielding strains that successfully compete in full-scale outdoor raceways, there was no
justification regarding why this particular effort would be more successful.
Reviewer: 7 Criteria Score: 2
Macroalgae for biofuel feedstock has a low probablity of success in any geography. Constraints to
northern lattitiudes lack scientific basis.
Presenter Response
1.A. The overarching goal for the microalgal aspect of the collaboration to deploy algal cultivation and
processing for production of biofuels. This is a long term goal and this small project is designed to
provide the basis for more extensive and expensive work in the future. It can reasonably be asked why the
US would be interested in algal cultivation in northern latitudes with better locations available in the
south, but Canada does not have that geographical advantage. However, successful deployment of algal
cultivation in Canada will mean that much more US geography can come into play, allowing for more
distributed production and greater volumes of fuels produced. The time constraints for this presentation
did not allow me to provide a better description of the Canadian partner’s role. They have identified the
potential sites for deployment and collected water samples from those areas. They will share in the
responsibility for evaluation of the strains and further development of those strains with best production
characteristics. They are also responsible for development of the cultivation process that can best be
deployed in northern locations. 1.B. The point about the seasonality of cultivation and thus the biological
advantages of local isolates is well taken, though strains that are better adapted to lower average
temperatures could be expected to maintain productivity throughout a longer growing period than isolates
from warmer climates. 1C. The reviewer presents the dilemma for all algal bioprospecting efforts. It is
impossible to evaluate a priori the impact of competing strains in large scale cultivation systems that have
not yet been built, but it isn’t practical to build those systems without some expectation of the strains to
be deployed. The decision to isolate strains from likely sites of cultivation is expected to mitigate the
competition problem somewhat. Further mitigation of this problem can be achieved through the use of
PBRs either for cultivation or for production of robust and high cell density inocula. The successful
cultivation of a handful of production strains by Seambiotics is a case study in which seasonal variations
in culture conditions can be managed by proper strain selection and rapid turnover of the ponds can be
carried out through the availability of a controlled inoculum system indicates that this problem can be
solved. While the open pond cultures at Seambiotics may not be axenic or even unialgal, they consist
primarily of the production strains and they are grown in a consistent, reproducible manner. 1.D.
Successful deployment is an economic issue not a scientific one. While the success with any
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