The second day of the Algal Biomass Summit has taken some of the lessons of the first day’s proceedings on the strengths and challenges faced by this nascent industry and expanded them into the international arena, as well as hosting discussions of the application of the emerging technologies for not just biofuel development, but also for use in well-established industries, such as for use by the airlines and oil companies and in the food industry.

It’s striking how in each of the talks or panels how great the impediments are for this promising fuel to be taken to market. While certain aspects of algae’s use as a feedstock are currently being exploited for use in animal feed and even in human food sources, widescale production of algal products remains the greatest roadblock.

It has become apparent in these two days just how frustrating this can be. Companies are clamoring for the products and industries involved in engineering of technology and the development of infrastructure seems to be moving far ahead of the actual capabilities of current algae stocks and technology. This is highlighted by the repeated declarations by a number of different speakers on how there is a real paucity of basic literature research out there.

There seems to be a real concern about over-promising this technology and how it could literally knock the feet out from beneath potential investors if things move forward too quickly. Many people are urging caution at this point, since a side effect could be commercialization of the technology before it’s been perfected and how the basic research needs to get there before many of these steps forward can be taken.

This puts algae in a unique position in that there is so much demand right now for alternative fuels, and the benefits of algae as a source of these fuels, from the plethora of strains available, the ease of genetic engineering, to the resources needed to culture these algae and extract the products for commercialization, that the policy and infrastructure ends of the commercialization process almost seem like they’re stepping beyond where the field currently stands.

This could mean that algae will find open arms in terms of funding and infrastructure when it’s ready to step into the spotlight, or it could mean that the industry could burn out before it can even get there.

It seems that time will tell. But spirits here remain high and hopefully the increasing awareness around algal biomass research, as evidenced by the increased attendance to conferences such as this, as well as the interest that both government agencies as well as private and public companies are showing in the field will help make algae the feedstock everyone in attendance hopes for it to be.

The feeling of hope in the conference room was palpable as I walked into the crowded conference space earlier this afternoon. Over the past three years, the ABO Algal Biomass Summit has grown in numbers from 300 attendees in 2007 at the inaugural conference in San Francisco to over 700 attendees this year, encompassing a crowd of basic researchers to government officials, entrepreneurs to farmers; all of them interested in hearing the latest breakthroughs in this growing field.

The first session of talks included an introductory keynote talk by Dr. Paul Roessler of Synthetic Genomics, who discussed the recent merger with Exxon Mobil to develop the economic viability of using algae as a feedstock to develop biofuels from the basic research side up to engineering, process development and scaling up of the methods to make it economically viable.

The following session focused on the science and technology of algae biomass production, which consisted of three short talks about algae oil production by Dr. Bill Barclay of Martek Biosciences, Dr. Steve Mayfield of Sapphire Energy and UCSD, and Dr. John Benemann who is one of the pioneers in the field of algal biomass research.

While each of these later talks could be considered research talks, the focus differed from most science conferences in that the focus on the future and the hope inherent in algae technologies were the primary messages each speaker hoped to get across.

Barclay's talk on using algae to produce oils for nutritional uses and their great strides forward in the past 11 years have enabled Martek to go from basic research to applied technologies so that algae-derived oils are actually being used in consumer products like yogurt, milk and nutritional supplements.

Mayfield came across as algae's white knight in his talk about commercial algae biomass production, where he dispelled common misconceptions about the viability of algae as a fuel source, going so far as to urge the attendees to look at the nametags of the people sitting next to them so that anyone involved in government funding might not miss the importance of this field of research. He went on to discuss some of the challenges, as well as the need to "domesticate" algae, just as crops and livestock have been domesticated throughout human history.

Benemann rounded out the afternoon's session with a humor and wit that rippled across the room, carried by the easy laughter and eagerness of the crowd. He highlighted some of the limiting factors that are hampering the advancement of the field, including lack of interest in research crowds (as evidenced by the number of scientific papers published on algae compared to other experimental organisms), to the challenges of using carbon dioxide as a fuel source, land use and photosynthetic efficiency.

After a short break, the conference divided up into a session commemorating the memory of the father of algal research, Dr. Ralph Arnold Lewin, where a number of people who had worked for him talked about his work, his life and his love of algae. The outpouring of emotion and the number of people attending showed just what a small research community this is and how remembering the past can motivate the breakthroughs of tomorrow. The second session focused on some of the infrastructure problems facing the algal biomass industry, ranging from the benefits of using algae in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions as compared to the use of fossil fuels to strategic modeling to identify regions of the United States that are best suited for the highest algae production per year.

The striking feature of all these sessions was their focus on the future and the hurdles this burgeoning industry is facing. That message, coupled with the promise that algae holds as a source of many commodoties (from biofuels to oils for food to harvesting of co-products that can be used in animal feedstocks or food coloring or auqacultures), makes it seem as though this conference is more than just an opportunity for scientists to talk shop, but as a place where minds can change, collaborations on all levels of infrastructure can grow, and this industry can take a big step forward into the future.