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St. Marys Cement Plant produces about 720,000 tonnes of cement each year along iwth 540,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, something they are working on reducing both through energy efficiency and end of piple solutions that utilize the CO2.
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The high tech control centre at St. Marys Cement Plant monitors everything from stack emissions to operations.
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The environmental monitor in the control room at St Marys Cement Plant tracks CO2 and other pollutants.
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One of the main operations monitors in the St. Marys Cement Plant in Ontario.
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Martin Vroegh in the bowels of the St.Marys Cement Plant. The pipe above his head taps directly into the smoke stack and takes the emissions right over to the Pond Biofuels bioreactor on site.
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The little pipe over Martin Vroegh's head takes raw smokestack emissions from the cement plant to Pond Biofuels where the emissions help grow algae.
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Connecting the dots - here you see the small pipe containing raw smokestack emissions from St. Marys Cement Plant plant running down the building over to the Pond Biofuels operation in the white Quonset down below.
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Located right in the Limestone quarry the St. Marys Cement Plant produces one of the most widely used products in modern society: cement. The challenge now is to reduce and untilize its greenhouse gas emissions.
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Martin Vroegh director of environmental affairs for St Marys Cement inspects the giant kiln where limestone is heated to 850 degrees C to produce klinker a precursor to cement.
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Heating a giant kiln up to 850 degrees C requries a lot of fuel and results in 40% of the carbon dioxide emissions from the cement plant.
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Cement is made by breaking limestone down into its constituent parts: lime and carbon dioxide. 60% of the carbon dioxide emissions from a cement plant come from the simple process of limestone being broken down.
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Most of the algae research has been done in sterile labs, Steve Martin first had to proove you could grow algae using raw smoke stack emissions. He's done this by using native algae that was already growing in the shadow of the cement plant.
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Like all cement plants the St. Marys Cement Plant in Ontario produces a lot of greenhouse gas emissions - that's why they are working wtih Pond Biofuels to use some of that carbon dioxide to grow algae.
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Cement plants like St. Marys in Ontario produce a lot of greenhouse gas emissions – that's why they are working on energy efficiency and end of pipe solutions like growing algae from plant emissions.
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In the shadow of St. Marys Cement plant, Pond Biofuels (white Quonset in lower right of photo) is taking carbon dioxide from the raw smoke stack emissions and growing algae to reduce pollution and produce a useful product.
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Pond Biofuels uses smoke stack emissions from the St. Marys Cement Plant to grow algae which can be used in a number of ways.
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Steve Martin shows some raw algae grown in one of Pond Biofuels bioreactors. The odor is rather pleasant, more like freshly cut grass than a smelly pond.
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This is a custom designed bioreactor for producing algae commercially. Steve Martin says one day we may see farms of these reactors using thousands of tonnes of CO2 from smokestacks to grow algae.
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Steve Martin is an expert in the field of optics. He got the idea of growing algae to produce oil while reading an article in the Washington Post. He started Pond Biofuels 12 hours after reading the article.
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Most neighbours detest smoke stacks – Steve Martin not only appreciates the smoke stack on the St Marys Cement plant he's tapped into it and brought the emissions right into his lab where he is using the CO2 in the emissions to grow algae.
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The trick to growing algae is light. Pond Biofuels has commissioned some very bright, red LED lights to help algae grow in his bioreactor at the Cement Plant.
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Natural algae needs more CO2 during the day and more light at night. Pond Biofuels provides more of both light and CO2 to grow algae very quickly.
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Pond Biofuels uses flashing LED lights to fool algae into growing faster – the algae is apparently fooled into thinking the diurnal cycle is shorter and much faster.
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Algae can be ground into a highly combustable powder that can be a fuel substitute for coal.
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Just one of the several species Pond Biofuels is growing using emissions from St. Marys Cement Plant.
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Algae can be used as animal feed, to produce biodiesel or ethanol fuels or in a variety of other products.
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Sweet or smelly? Fresh algae, contrary to what you might thin k, smells more like freshly cut grass than a smelly swamp. This is algae fresh from Pond Biofuels bioreactor in St. Marys, Ontario.
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First of its kind! This 25,000 litre bioreactor tank is being tested by Pond Biofuels as the first step in commercial production of algae at its plant in St. Marys, Ontario. Some day you may see farms of these reactor tanks useing carbon dioxide emissions