Newton High School seniors experiment with algae’s viability as a biofuel

While everyone else was busy finishing their end-of-semester tests at Newton High School, senior Kallie Van Kley spent her last day making biofuel. Dressed in a white lab coat and donning thick, plastic goggles, Van Kley dashed out the science room May 19 to find teacher Jodi Morgan-Peters.

“They’re separating! Come look!” she exclaimed from across the courtyard.

Morgan-Peters hurried over to find a separating funnel filled with green-yellow fluid and small chunks of algae. Floating atop the thickest layer of algae was a pale yellow liquid, which Van Kley, 17, proudly stated was the biofuel. After multiple filtrations, the senior was able reserve a few ounces.

Perhaps not enough to fill a tank, but it was the proper bookend to a project Van Kley and fellow senior Treycen Garton, 18, recently presented on just two days prior. As part of their Fledge course, Van Kley and Garton were encouraged to identify a world problem and develop a project or experiment to help solve the issue.

Fledge is a STEM innovator class led by Morgan-Peters. The project-focused course is powered by a partnership with the University of Iowa and is designed to instill STEM and business principles. Students are asked to make a “bug list” of things that bother them or their community.

Both seniors decided they wanted to take a closer look at the viability of algae as a biofuel. By partnering with local businesses and other agencies in their own community, Van Kley and Garton were able to get their hands on algae for testing. The two presented their findings on May 17.

“We were really interested in renewable energy and how that works,” Van Kley said during the presentation, later noting she and Garton looked at other green energy sources like solar and wind. “…During our biology class sophomore year we found out about algae as a biofuel and how it’s really effective.”

With energy-based companies like Renewable Energy Group, TPI Composites and Arcosa Wind Towers already set up in Newton, the two figured they would also have the necessary community resources to develop their project. They also partnered with the city’s wastewater treatment plant to obtain algae samples.

Other entities like the local Keystone Laboratories, Inc. and BioCentury Research Farm in Boone provided tours and assisted with testing.

TURNING THE GREEN INTO ENERGY

So how does algae become biodiesel? Garton explained the algae has to be grown and cultivated. Afterwards, oil must be extracted from the algae, which can be further refined and turned into biodiesel. Their research showed production of algae is a carbon-neutral process and does not take up human food sources.

Garton said the factors that affect the growth rate of algae include the type of species it is, temperature, light intensity, the color of the light, whether or not it is agitated while it is growing, the amount of nutrients inside the solution it is grown in and the pH levels of that solution.

“We kept all those factors in mind when we designed our experiment as to only change one factor at a time,” Garton said. “…In order to further our research, we toured a ton of places around town and outside of town in order to gain more knowledge of how things work.”

Van Kley and Garton tasked themselves with answering the question: “Can the sludge (a nutrient-rich solution from the wastewater treatment plant) be used to effectively grow the algae?” Using different levels of diluted sludge, they searched for an answer.

They hypothesized the 100-times diluted sludge would the best solution to grow the algae. Results from the experiment showed the average mass of the 10-times diluted sludge was abnormal from the other tests of 100-times diluted and 1,000-times diluted sludge. Garton said they found an answer for that.

“When you filter out the algae, some of that sludge also gets caught within the filter paper so it makes it look a lot bigger than what they actual amount that it grew was,” Garton said. “That’s kind of why that one sticks out.”

SECONDARY RESULTS & CHALLENGES

Of course, the two-month experiment was not without its fair share of challenges. Garton said one the endemic algae species died, which required him and Van Kley to collect more. The two also had difficulty taking the mass of the chlorella algae, partly because it was so small.

Looking through their collected data and pondering their initial question, Van Kley said they discovered a few problems using the wastewater treatment plant’s products to grow algae locally. For instance, a large-scale production facility would be needed.

There is also a stage between algae growth and the creation of biodiesel — the oil extraction — that would need its own infrastructure to complete the process. In addition to their primary findings, Van Kley and Garton found secondary results of their experiment, specifically in the water the algae was growing in.

“We discovered that there was a significant decrease in nitrogen levels, which is important because Iowa right now there is a big focus on decreasing water contamination and pollution,” Van Kley said. “There’s been an increase in pollution due to an increase in fertilizer that’s used on crop ground.”

Which runs off into Iowa’s streams, creeks and rivers. Increased nitrogen in water sources not only is harmful to the environment, it is also a public health risk.

Van Kley and Garton then wondered if algae could be used as a “scrubber” to remove more nitrogen from the outflow water from places like the local wastewater treatment plant — which Van Kley noted is at acceptable levels — and how that process could work in Newton.

“Our numbers were actually pretty significant. In the chlorella, the effluent (the outflow of water from the wastewater treatment plant) actually decreased 78 percent in nitrogen amounts. And in the sewage algae, or endemic species, it decreased 74 percent,” Van Kley said.

CONCLUSION: POSSIBLE REAL WORLD APPLICATION

Although Van Kley and Garton could not determine the cost-effectiveness of an algae-biodiesel facility, they believed the secondary results of their experiment where algae can be used to decrease the amount of nitrogen in the outflow could be beneficial for the treatment plan.

They also noticed because algae can be grown in smaller areas, it could be more ideal for larger cities. Perhaps even in collaboration with a water treatment plants.

“So our thought was if there could be an algae growth plant next to a sewage treatment plant in a bigger city it’ll decrease the area needed,” Van Kley said. “…The sewage treatment and also the algae growth, they are grown in similar conditions. We’re not really sure how that would play out.”

Looking back on their work, Garton told Newton News the whole process of designing an experiment was exciting to him. He and Van Kley always had to think 40 steps ahead. Even when their experiment took a different turn and the results were a little different than expected, Van Kley still felt engaged.

“That’s the beauty of it, too, is that looking beyond what you expect to see. Because sometimes the answers aren’t going to be as evident at first,” she said. “The other thing is, we’re seniors in high school. You don’t have to be some PhD in science to do science and to do good science.”

Van Kley and Garton thank their community, their teachers and the groups who helped them with their project.

“The resources are available. If you want to learn and really better yourself in science or anything, you can make it happen. And the community is super receptive to helping you with that,” Van Kley said.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com