TEDxNASA@SiliconValley - Bilal Bomani - Cutting edge biofuels

Bilal Bomani currently serves as the lead scientist for NASA's biofuels research program focusing on the next generation of aviation fuel. The intent is to use algae and halophytes with the goal of providing a renewable energy source that does not use freshwater, arable land or compete with food crops.

Welcome everyone.

What I'm going to do is, I'm going to explain to you

an extreme green concept

that was developed at NASA's Glenn Research Center

in Cleveland, Ohio.

But before I do that, we have to go over

the definition of what green is,

cos a lot of us have a different definition of it.

Green. The product is created through

environmentally and socially conscious means.

There's plenty of things that are being called green now.

What does it actually mean?

We use three metrics to determine green.

The first metric is: is it Sustainable?

Which means: Are you preserving what you are doing for future use

or for future generations?

Is it alternative? Is it different than what is being used today,

or does it have a lower carbon footprint

than what's used conventionally?

And three: Is it renewable?

Does it come from Earth's natural replenishing resources,

such as Sun, wind and water?

Now my task at NASA is to develop

the next generation of aviation fuels.

Extreme green. Why aviation?

The field of aviation uses more fuel than just about

every other combined. We need to find an alternative.

Also it's a natural aeronautics directive.

One of the national aeronautics goals is to develop

the next generation of fuels, bio fuels, using

domestic and safe, friendly, resources.

Now combating that challenge

we have to also meet the big three metric --

actually, this is an extreme green, for us is all three together

that's why you see the plus there I was told to say that.

All right! So, it has to be the BIG 3 at GRC, that's another metric.

97% of the world's water is saltwater.

How about we use that. Combine that with number 3.

Do not use arable land.

Because crops are already growing on that land

that's very scarce around the world.

Number two: Don't compete with food crops.

That's already a well established entity, they don't need another entry.

And lastly the most precious resource we have on this Earth

is fresh water. Don't use fresh water.

If 97.5% of the world's water is salt water

2.5% is fresh water. Less than a half percent

of that is accessible for human use.

But 60% of the population lives within that one percent.

So, combating my problem was, now I have to be extreme green

and meet the big three. Ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to the GreenLab Research Facility.

This is a facility dedicated to the next generation

of aviation fuels using halophytes.

A halophyte is a salt tolerating plant.

Most plants don't like salt, but halophytes tolerate salt.

We are also are using weeds

and we are also using algae.

The good thing about our lab is, we've had

thirty six hundred visitors in the last two years.

Why do you think that's so?

Because we are on to something special.

So, in the lower you see the GreenLab obviously

in our right hand side you see algae.

If you are into the business of the next generation

aviation fuels, algae is a viable option,

there's a lot of funding right now

and we have an algae to fuels program.

There's two types of algae growing.

One is a closed photobioreactor that you see here,

and what you see on the other side is our species

we are currently using a species called Scenedesmus diamorphis.

Our job at NASA is to take the experimental and computational

and make a better mixing for the closed photobioreactors.

Now the problems of closed photobioreactors are:

they are quite expensive, they are automated

and it's very difficult to get them in large scale.

So on large scale what do we use?

We use open pond systems. Now, around the world

they are growing algae, with this racetrack designs

that you see here. Looks like an oval with a

paddle wheel and mixes really well but

when it gets around the last turn, which I call turn four -- it's stagnant.

We actually have a solution for that

in the GreenLab open pond system

we use something that happens in nature: waves.

We actually use wave technology on our open pond systems

we have 95% mixing and our lipid content is higher

than our closed photobioreactor system

which we think is significant.

There's a drawback to algae, however: it's very expensive.

Is there a way to produce algae

inexpensively? And the answer is: yes.

We do the same thing we do with halophytes

and that is: climatic adaptation.

In our GreenLab we have six primary ecosystems

that range from freshwater all the way to saltwater.

What we do: we take a potential species, we start at freshwater

we add a little bit more salt, when the second tank here

will be the same ecosystem as Brazil

-- right next to the sugar cane fields you can have our plants --

the next tank represents Africa, the next tank represents Arizona,

the next tank represents Florida,

and the next tank represents California, or the open ocean.

What we are trying to do is to come up with a single species

that can survive anywhere in the world, where there's barren desert.

We are being very successful so far.

Now, here's one of the problems. If you are a farmer

you need five things to be successful: you need seeds

you need soil, you need water, and you need sun,

and the last thing that you need is fertilizer.

Most people use chemical fertilizers. But guess what

we do not use chemical fertilizer. Wait a second!

I just saw lots of green in your green lab. You have to use fertilizer.

Believe it or not, in our analysis of our saltwater ecosystems

80% of what we need are in these tanks themselves.

The 20% that's missing is nitrogen and phosphorous.

We have a natural solution: fish.

No we don't cut up the fish and put them in there. (Laughter)

Fish waste is what we use. As a matter of fact

we use freshwater mollies, that we've used our climatic adaptation technique

from freshwater all the way to seawater.

Freshwater mollies: cheap, they love to make babies,

and they love to go to the bathroom.

And the more they go to the bathroom, the more fertilizer we get,

the better off we are, believe it or not.

It should be noted that we use sand as our soil,

regular beach sand. Fossilized krill.

All right. So, a lot of people ask me, How did you get started?

Well, we got started in what we call indoor bio fuels lab.

It's a seedling lab. We have 26 different species of halophytes

and five are winners. What we do here is --

actually it should be called a death lab, 'cos we try to

kill the seedlings, make them rough --

and then we come to the green lab.

What you see in the lower corner

is a waste photo treatment plant experiment

that we are growing, a macro algae that I'll talk about in a minute.

And lastly it's me actually working in the lab to prove that I do work,

I don't just talk about what I do. (Laughter)

All right. Here's the plant species. Salicornia virginica.

It's a wonderful plant. I love that plant.

Everywhere we go we see it. It's all over the place from Maine

all the way to California. We love that plant.

Second is Salicornia bigelovi. Very difficult to get around the world.

It is the highest lipid content that we have,

but it has a short coming: it's short.

Now you take europaea, which is the largest

or the tallest plant that we have, and what we are trying to do

with natural selection or adaptive biology, combine all three

to make a higher growth high lipid plant.

Next -- when a hurricane decimated the Delaware Bay -- soy bean fields: gone.

We came up with an idea: can you have a plant

that has a land reclamation positive in Delaware, and the answer is yes.

It's called seashore mallow. Kosteletzkya virginica

-- say that five times if you can, fast.

This is a 100% usable plant. The seeds: bio fuels. The rest: cattle feed.

It's there for ten years, it's working very well.

Now we get to Chaetomorpha.

This is a macro-algae that loves

excess nutrients. If you are in the aquarium industry

you know we use it to clean up dirty tanks.

This species is so significant to us.

The properties are very close to plastic.

We are trying right now to convert this macro-algae into a bio-plastic.

If we are successful, we will revolutionize the plastics industry.

So, we have a seed to fuel program. We have to do something

with this biomass that we have.

And so we do GC extraction, lipid optimization, so on and so forth,

because our goal really is to come up with

the next generation of aviation fuels, aviation specifics, so on and so forth.

So, so far we talked about water and fuel,

but along the way we found out something interesting about Salicornia:

it's a food product.

So we talk about ideas worth spreading, right?

How about this: in Sub-Saharian Africa, next to the sea, saltwater,

barren desert, how about we take that plant,

plant it, have use for food, have use for fuel.

We can make that happen, inexpensively.

You can see there's a greenhouse in Germany

that sells it as a health food product.

This is harvested, and in the middle here is a shrimp dish, and it's been pickled

so I have to tell a joke. Salicornia is known as sea beans

saltwater asparagus, and pickle weed.

So we are pickling pickle weed, in the middle.

Oh I thought it was funny. (Laughter)

And at the bottom is seamans mustard. It does make sense,

this is a logical snack. You have mustard,

you are a seaman, you see the halophyte, you mix it together

it's a great snack with some crackers.

All right. And last: garlic, with Salicornia, which is what I like.

So, water, fuel, and food.

None of this is possible without the GreenLab Team.

Just like the Miami Heat has the big three, we have the big three at NASA GRC.

That's myself, professor Bob Hendricks, who's our fearless leader, and doctor Arnon Chait.

The backbone of the GreenLab is students.

Over the last two years we had thirty five different students

from around the world working at GreenLab.

As a matter fact my division chief says a lot, "you have a green university",

I say, "I'm ok with that, 'cos we are nurturing

the next generation of extreme green thinkers, which is significant."

So, in first summary I presented to you what we think

is a global solution for food, fuel and water.

There's something missing to be complete.

Clearly we use electricity. We have a solution for you --

we are using clean energy sources here.

So, we have two wind turbines connected to the GreenLab

we have four or five more hopefully coming soon.

We are also using something that is quite interesting --

there is a solar array field at NASA's Glenn Research Center,

hasn't been used for fifteen years.

Along with some of my electrical engineering colleagues

we realized that they are still viable

so we are refurbishing them right now

in about thirty days or so they will be connected to the GreenLab.

And the reason why you see red, red and yellow, is

a lot of people think NASA employees don't work on Saturday --

this is a picture taken on Saturday, there's no cars around but you see

my truck in yellow, I work on Saturday. (Laughter)

This is a proof to you that I'm working.

'Cos we do what it takes to get the job done, most people know that.

Here's a concept with this:

we are using the GreenLab for a micro-grid testbed

for the smart-grid concept in Ohio.

We have the ability to do that, and I think it's going to work.

So, GreenLab Research Facility.

A self sustainable renewable energy ecosystem was presented today.

We really, really hope this concept catches on, worldwide.

We think we have a solution, for food, water, fuel and now energy. Complete.

It's extreme green, it's sustainable, alternative, and renewable

and it meets the big three at GRC:

don't use arable land, don't compete with food crops,

and most of all, don't use fresh water.

So I get a lot of questions about what are you doing in that lab?

And I usually say, None of your business, that's what I'm doing in the lab. (Laughter)

And believe it or not, my number one goal,

for working on this project, is:

I want to help save the world. Thank you.

(Applause)