Omega produces improved ecosystem conditions, renewable biofuels, and clean water through the use of waste products and non-invasive algae

AT: Land CP

Solvency---Oceans Best

Oceans best place for algae growth-land use increases emissions

Wiley 13 [Patrick Edward Wiley-Ph.D., Environmental Systems from UC Merced, “Microalgae Cultivation using Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae (OMEGA)”, 2013, http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0586c8p5#page-62]
The production of renewable fuels is becoming increasingly important as the supply of petroleum reserves diminish and environmental consequences resulting from fossil fuel combustion become more severe. Fuels produced from biomass have the potential to reduce reliance on petroleum resources and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, Fargione et al. (1) and Searchinger et al. (2) reported that land use practices, such as clearing carbon-rich forests for biofuel production, might actually increase GHG emissions when compared with emissions released from fossil fuel combustion. Additionally, the use of arable land for biofuel production could negatively affect the global food supply (3).Microalgae are currently under consideration as a significant source of sustainable biofuels because of their high photosynthetic efficiency, fast growth rates and seemingly large capacity to produce oil that can be readily transformed into fuel (4-9). Mata et al. (7) identified over 40 strains of microalgae capable of accumulating lipid content ranging from 2 to 75% by mass that can be extracted and transformed into liquid transportation fuels. These microscopic, single-celled organisms can be cultivated on non-arable land, using saline, brackish, or wastewaters that have few competing uses (7, 8, 10-13), lessening competition with agriculture and thus giving them an advantage over other biofuel crops (4, 13, 14). On the other hand, microalgae require fertilizer and supplemental carbon dioxide (CO2) for optimal growth, which can generate more environmental pollution and GHG emissions than cultivation of more traditional biofuel feedstocks, such as switchgrass, canola and corn (15-17). Several authors have noted that these environmental drawbacks can be ameliorated by linking microalgae cultivation to wastewater treatment plants (to provide water and nutrients) and flue gas sources (to provide CO2) (16, 18-20). It has also been shown that an overall net positive energy return on investment (EROI) can be realized when microalgal cultivation systems are combined with wastewater treatment processes for the purpose of nutrient recovery (15, 21). Accordingly, there is growing consensus that any large-scale microalgal cultivation system must be linked to wastewater treatment to establish economic feasibility and reduce the GHG emissions (16, 18, 22).

Solvency---Cost-Competitive

OMEGA is Cost Competitive with Land-Based Algae Farms- More Advantages and Solves Better

By KATIE HOWELL, Published: May 12, 2009,Greenwire Deputy Editor, New York Times, NASA bags algae, wastewater in bid for aviation fuel, http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/05/12/12greenwire-nasa-bags-algae-wastewater-in-bid-for-aviation-12208.html. Accessed 7/15/14

NASA's plastic bags are designed to last up to three years, Trent said. After that, they could be recycled as plastic mulch or chopped and used to improve soil quality and help retain moisture. "We don't think this would be cost-effective if we just go after the fuels," Trent said. "But we're functioning on at least three different levels: making the products -- fuel, fertilizers -- then wastewater processing and carbon sequestration. The economic model becomes more reasonable." In fact, Trent said, the technology is nearly cost-competitive with land-based production methods for algae biofuels that require vast industrial-scale, open-air pond farms or in closed bioreactors. But land-based methods have limits, Trent said. Open-air ponds and bioreactors gobble up large tracts of land that would be taxed and could potentially compete with agriculture. And even in deserts, where farming is less likely, evaporation of open-air ponds is a threat. Closed bioreactors face similar hurdles. They must be extremely robust in order to hold large amounts of water against air. "We've solved the problem of evaporation, weeds, structure," Trent said. "And we think we've added other benefits like processing sewage and sequestering carbon." Trent envisions the OMEGAs producing enough fuel to fill U.S. aviation needs -- 21 billion gallons a year. Doing so would require about 10 million acres of ocean, he said. "It seems huge, but it's a small area in the overall oceans," he said. "And we imagine [the OMEGAs] distributed around, locally distributed ... or franchised and monitored by fishermen."

Solvency---No Agriculture Tradeoff

OMEGA improves oceans-uses wastewater and doesn’t compete with agriculture

Wilcox 5/22/12 [Kevin Wilcox, “The Beginning of OMEGA”, American Society of Civil Engineering, May 22, 2012, http://www.asce.org/CEMagazine/Article.aspx?id=25769808850#.U8RFTpP77J1]

May 22, 2012—Researchers in California have completed small-scale tests of an innovative wastewater system that treats primary or secondary effluent by flowing it into photobioreactors—flexible, transparent polyethylene tubes floating in saltwater—and then introducing and growing microalgae, which consume nitrogen and phosphate in the wastewater. Once the system is in balance, about 25 percent of the algae can be harvested daily to produce biofuel oil. The system—Offshore Membrane Enclosure for Growing Algae (OMEGA)—was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and developed by a research team at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. Microalgae are among the fastest growing plants on the planet, according to Jonathan Trent, Ph.D., an OMEGA project scientist. They are prized for their ability to produce oil, and are considered a promising source for the development of biofuel. “Growing algae is not as trivial as people seem to think,” Trent says. “Because algae grow in their swimming pools and ponds and puddles, they think it’s just a matter of creating an environment where you just throw in some algae and you harvest it a day or two later. “The reality is that the algae produce oxygen, which is toxic to their growth,” Trent says. “They need nutrients, they need pH regulation, and they need additional CO2 to grow properly. There are a lot of subtleties in growing microalgae.” A test system was developed at the Southeast Wastewater Treatment Facility in San Francisco, where OMEGA tubes are suspended in saltwater tanks and filled with 450 gal of secondary effluent. The wastewater circulates in the tubes at a rate that prevents the algae from settling to the bottom. Periodically, the algae pass through a vertical chamber in which oxygen is removed, CO2 bubbles provide carbon for the algae and correct the pH balance in the system, and algae settle out to be harvested. Eventually the system is infiltrated by organisms in the wastewater that begin consuming the algae. At that point, the system is flushed with seawater and the process begins again. The team is now studying how effectively the system removes pharmaceuticals, steroids, endocrine disrupters, caffeine, and other trace elements. “For reasons that aren’t completely clear yet—although we are working on the science of this—many of these compounds are disappearing,” Trent says.  Trent envisions massive versions of OMEGA deployed in protected bays off the coasts of large cities, where outflows of wastewater are common. Globally 400 trillion gal of wastewater are generated each year, 80 percent of which is discharged untreated into oceans and seas and this is an enormous resource for making biofuels, while recovering valuable nutrients that can be used for fertilizers on land. “Wastewater has a source of nitrogen and phosphate that is not costing us anything in a sense,” Trent says. “We are, right now, just throwing it away into the ocean, allowing it to cause algae blooms in the marine environment. We are proposing that we can use those nutrients to make an algae bloom of our choice, harvest the algae for fuel, then also harvest the nitrogen and phosphate to produce fertilizer and not just throw it away.” Floating photobioreactors in seawater provide a natural method to regulate their internal temperature of the bioreactors. Also, because the microalgae are growing in wastewater, which is a freshwater environment, if the system leaks into the sea, the algae that are released cannot thrive and won’t contribute to unwanted algae blooms or become invasive species. Trent estimates that one acre of OMEGA biomass will be capable of generating 2,000 gal of biofuel annually. “The U.S. is currently using for aviation about 20 billion barrels per year,” Trent says. “So, if you do the math, you’re going to need about 10 million acres to accommodate our aviation needs using algae as a source of that fuel. That sounds like a huge number, but in fact it would be distributed over a large area. It’s less than 3 percent of the total crop land that’s under cultivation in the United States right now for food—and what area should we dedicate to a carbon-neutral source of sustainable fuel that won’t compete with agriculture?” Trent is scheduled to discuss the potential of the OMEGA system on June 27 at the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Earlier this month, NASA announced the system is available to the private sector through the administration’s technology transfer program. “I considered the system that we have built today a bit like Orville and Wilbur’s first 12-second flight,” Trent says. “It was a long enough flight for them to look at each other and say, ‘Gee, this is going to work.’ And think about it, within 60 years of the Kitty Hawk’s flight we flew to the moon! “We have just the first inkling of how one might approach the problem of finding a sustainable substitute for fossil fuels from algae,” Trent says. “If we as a community of scientists and engineers were really serious about making liquid fuel from a sustainable biological source, based on what we’ve done I think there is hope.”