Cedar Lane Farms will burn algae-produced biofuel

Cedar Lane Farms, a greenhouse and nursery operation in Wooster, Ohio, is working with researchers at Ohio St. Univ.-OARDC and Touchstone Research Laboratory to develop biofuel from algae. Scientists are working to develop the technology for efficiently and profitably growing algae in open ponds for production of fuels and other high-value, bio-based products.
Funded by nearly $7 million in grants from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, Touchstone will be testing an “integrated system” in four algae-producing ponds at Cedar Lane Farms. The system will produce an annual capacity of some 2,000 gallons of oil, which will be turned into fuel. Construction of the ponds is scheduled to begin this summer. Dept. of Energy had previously sponsored a clean-coal technology demonstration at Cedar Lane, which used an advanced coal-burning system for heating its greenhouses.
“Algae needs only one-tenth of the land soybeans need to produce the same amount of oil,” said Yebo Li, Ohio St. Univ.-OARDC assistant professor and an Ohio St. extension specialist. “And because algae is about 40% lipids (oil) and 60% biomass, there’s also an opportunity to use this biomass that’s leftover after oil extraction as a fertilizer or as a feedstock for making energy through anaerobic digestion.”