Member - Algae International Bhd

The problems 1. Pollution problem Agriculture is the largest polluter of the world’s waterways. An article in the South China Morning Post praising China for fast improvements in its climate credentials https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3044695/chinas-drive-clean-lakes-and-rivers-starts-bear-fruit-pollution also says: “But the researchers warned that increased discharges from the agricultural sector were hampering efforts to control pollution and there were still serious problems in the north and northeast of the country.” 2. The water problem Pollution of the water is one of the reasons of water becoming short. The other reason is that agriculture uses up a lot of water. 3. Environmental problem. Agriculture pollutes the water ways by adding run offs which have organics and in-organics. Both cause major environmental damage including reducing life in the waters and making the water systems smelly and unsightly. 4. Climate change According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_and_agriculture 25% of climate change is by agriculture. 5. Food security With increasing population and increasing incomes more food needs to be supplied. This leads to deforestation 6. Food quality One of the easiest ways to make food abundant is to mass-produce it, but most mass-produced food has pesticides, hormones, anti-biotics, growth enhancers and highly processed food is full of additives, preservatives, and other ingredients our bodies’ don´t like. The second quality problem with current food is the depletion of agricultural soils. Just like us plants require 20 minerals. The fertilizer applied increases yields greatly which means the plants draws more minerals than the soils can supply and exposed soils means the minerals are washed off. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_fertility The fertilizer applied is only nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in most cases meaning the rest of the minerals deplete. 7. Deforestation problem With the increasing need for agriculture, deforestation has become a major problem with its various damaging consequences. 8. Renewable energy Solar and wind energy are now economic in some parts of the world but are intermittent requiring storage. The solution The solution to the above problems is very elegant in its simplicity but requires very good technology. Agricultural effluent both from plant based and animal husbandry consists of two main components – the organics and the in-organics. The organics can be volatilised using anaerobic digestion (AD). This produces biogas which can generate electricity. The resulting digestate has deposited solid which can be removed and used as organic fertilizer and the liquid has in-organics also known as fertilizer. This is the best of all fertilizers as it has all the 20 minerals, perfect for growing microalgae. The effect on the above problems are: 1. Pollution problem Agricultural effluent anaerobically digested and then used for growing microalgae produces water which can be reused with minor treatment. Producing a cyclic economy. The cost of fertilizer for growing microalgae is removed reducing the cost of the dried microalgae 2. The water problem Recycling water is one of the reasons of increased supply of water. The second reason is that discharging polluted water to the water ways makes the rest of the water unusable to some extent and the third reason is that microalgae use very little water. 3. Environmental problem. Clean water without the organics and in-organics load is a plus for the environment. 4. Climate change Methane is at least 21 times and could be over 50 times as warming as CO2 depending on its rate of degradation. By capturing the methane and producing renewable energy there is a large improvement. Further the CO2 released in electricity generation enhances the growth of microalgae and is used up by them. The enhanced growth of microalgae reduces the cost of microalgae production. One more – the very hot flue gas from the electricity generation is used to dry the microalgae and is another cost saving. 5. Food security Microalgae are very productive, generally 5 times to over 3,000 times, depending on the product, as productive as current agriculture. Hence, replacing an increasing level of current agriculture with microalgae will help increase food supply without requiring more land. 6. Food quality Microalgae do not require pesticides, hormones, anti-biotics, and growth enhancers and do not need to be highly processed. Microalgae grown in water with all 20 minerals in good balance provide all the minerals we need. They are also dense with all the remaining 45 essentials 7. Deforestation problem The high productivity reduces the need for agricultural land. 8. Renewable energy Solar and wind energy are now economic in some parts of the world but are intermittent requiring storage. Biogas can be stored and the electricity generated when supply form other renewable sources are low. Some reasons why the project is so profitable. The cost of microalgae production becomes very low. The cost savings are: 1. There are current costs to the mill for handling effluent at palm oil mills. This can be an income or cost reduction in kind for us; 2. Some job functions between the AD and microalgae farm are more presence than work and one person can do both. Workers work is also intermittent for both AD and microalgae. 3. Land is very low or no cost 4. Fertilizer and water costs are almost eliminated 5. The cost of heat for drying the microalgae is eliminated 6. CO2 from burning biogas is very clean and can be fed to the microalgae without treatment both increasing yield and reducing cost 7. All utilities and infrastructure is available on site reducing the cost