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Trends in Atmospheric CO 2

Generating Enough Renewable Energy Bruce E. Rittmann Director, Center for Environmental Biotechnology Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University Regents’ Professor, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering. Trends in Atmospheric CO 2.

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Trends in Atmospheric CO 2

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  1. Generating Enough Renewable EnergyBruce E. RittmannDirector, Center for Environmental BiotechnologyBiodesign Institute at Arizona State UniversityRegents’ Professor, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built EnvironmentIra A. Fulton School of Engineering

  2. Trends in Atmospheric CO2 1000 - 1800 -- ~ 280 ppmv (pre-industrial) 1870 -- ~ 300 ppmv (industrial revolution) 1950 -- ~ 305 ppmv (post WWII) 1970 -- ~ 325 ppmv 1988 -- ~ 350 ppmv 2000 -- ~ 360 ppmv 2006 -- ~ 375 ppmv 2010 -- ~ 390 ppmv 2050 -- est. from 450 to 550 ppmv 2100 -- est. from 490 to 1000 ppmv • Emissions target to hold at today’s CO2 level IPCC hoped for stabilization level

  3. Scale! Scale! Scale!Scale! Human activities now use about 13-14 TerraWatts (TW = a trillion watts = 10-billion 100-watt light bulbs) of energy. ~ 84% is from fossil fuels (~ 11 TW): 34% oil, 32% coal, 14% natural gas We need to replace about 7 TW with renewable energy. This means doable at a large scale. To get the most high value services of fossil fuels, we need to produce a lot more biomass in an environmentally acceptable manner.

  4. Plants or Microbes? Plants • Slow growing - usually only one crop a year •Require arable land • Growth seasonal • Low areal production • Heterogeneous (leaves, seeds, stems, etc.) • Require water and fertilizer; pollutes water • Largely lignocellulosic Photosynthetic Microorganisms • Fast growing - doubling time 0.5-1 day • Do not require arable land • Growth year-round • High areal production • Homogeneous (all cells are the same) • Water-efficient; can recycle minerals • Not lignocellulosic Example: The areal production of biomass and its energy content is roughly 100 times greater with photosynthetic microorganisms. This puts the output into the TW range.

  5. Photobioreactors for Microbial PhototrophsThe lipids go to “biopetrol,” and the non-lipid biomass can be converted to CH4, electricity, or H2. Synechocystis PCC6803 17-L bench-top PBR (left) 2100-L rooftop PBR (right)

  6. Generating Enough Renewable EnergyBruce E. RittmannDirector, Center for Environmental BiotechnologyBiodesign Institute at Arizona State UniversityRegents’ Professor, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built EnvironmentIra A. Fulton School of Engineering

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