Gasoline from Algae Will Replace Gasoline from Oil

[msta999]

I have been reading more and more on hydrogen fuel. Sounds like it will not be the big fix for our fuel problems. I ran across this and have not heard of it before. Just wondering if anyone have heard of Algae biofuel?

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Gasoline-from-Algae-Will-Replace-Gasoline-from-Oil-46413.shtml

I'm adding this link, because the first few paragraphs sound good. *;D

http://www.greenchipstocks.com/aqx_p/2569?gclid=CNb6x5WN_JICFRpOagod03M4FA

[kawalekm]

Hi msta
I think algae has several advantages that other biofuel crops don't possess.

Because most algae start out as being single cells, it's easier to engineer them to produce what you want. Much easier than trying to engineer corn or soybeans.

Algae that tolerate salt water, or salty water which means that you can grow algae with low quality water, or even ocean water in otherwise unproductive desert regions like California, Texas, or Florida.

The growth of algae has even been linked to the exhaust of power plants to consume the CO2 and nitrogen gas waste, futher reducing global warming.

I think that initially, algal-diesel will be easier to produce than algal-gasoline. A lot of the plant synthesized fats are already about the right length for fuel production, so it won't take much engineering to tweek them to make what we want. Gasoline is a smaller more volatile molecule and we might not be able to get a plant cell to synthesize anything that acts as a direct substitute (a better substitute than ethanol).

That being said, I see one very serious obstacle, which is political will. If Americans can't be convinced to carpool, or even slow down and drive the speed limit, how can we expect our political leaders to show any will either.
Michael

[chrisser]

This article may be of interest:

http://www.physorg.com/news128173373.html

Seems that it might be the turning point that makes algae-based fuels viable. Previous algae solutions required taking the algae and processing it to get the oil (in other words, killing the harvest). The oil was then used to create biodiesel, but there was a lot of excess material and, as mentioned, you had to kill the algae to get the oil out of them.

If this algae process can be scaled up, it produces simple sugars and cellulose that can be harvested without killing the algae and used to produce ethanol. These particular algae also grow in less-than-potable water, including salt water, apparently.

We could grow algae in the desert or on otherwise unusable but sunny land instead of diverting our food supply and associated fertile land as is being done now with corn-based ethanol.

If this process can be scaled up, and if it takes less energy to produce the resulting fuel (unlike corn-based ethanol), then we might really have something.

Still lots of "if"s, but a development worth watching.


Would be interesting if this could be scaled to a homestead-sized plant - perhaps using the roofs of existing structures for algae breeding much like solar panels are used today.

[chrisser]

Not sure if this is the same process/company...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/may/30/greenbusiness.oil?gusrc=rss&feed=business

"Funding bonanza for oil-from-algae firm

John Sterlicchi, US correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday May 30 2008

A Californian start-up company promising "green crude" fuel from algae has been given $50m (£25.33m) in funding from investors, including Britain's biggest charity, the Wellcome Trust.

The year-old start-up, Sapphire Energy, came out of "stealth mode" this week with an announcement that its trials have been so successful that its backers have promised no-limit funding. "

(rest of article at link)

Sounds promising but, as with most things it seems, its 5 years away...

[msta999]

chrisser,

thanks for the update. It is good to hear that this just might work. Lets hope, that once they get it going, it won't be too expensive.

[jott]

I have been watching this for some time now and I hope to see them keep progressing, it is the bio fuel I think has the most promise. I think that if the government would stop wasting our money on ethanol subsidies or subsidize other bio fuels equally you would see a much faster move this direction. With gas at about $4 a gal other options will show up quick if the government would get out of the way.

[JAK]

The bottom line is not so much the cost but the sustainability. How much energy does the process require? What materials does the process require? How much water does this process require? How much land does the process require? What is the impact and footprint of any undesirable biproducts released to the environment? How does it fit in with other human and natural processes?

I presume the energy for this ultimately comes from the sun, so it needs to be compared with other such energy conversion or energy recovery processes.

Bio-processes are very promising though. It's absolutely amazing what those little buggers can do, at very low temperatures. But it does sound to me like more of a waste recovery process then a solar energy conversion process.

[JAK]

It uses a land area only the size of Maryland, which ain't bad, but it is also dependant on waste water and human waste and animal waste. We will likely need to reduce the amount of that waste, and the water and energy and materials and land use that goes into producing them. Once we do that, there is less likely to be as much energy and materials to be recovered from them. It's somewhat like bio-diesel from used veggie oil. We need to recovery as much energy as we can from that stuff, but we probably shouldn't be eating so much fried food in the first place.

Waste recovery is only a second step.
First we need to stop producing so much shit.

[walls0stone]

I love the fried foods argument, I'm 6ft 4 and 149 lbs... we should fry tons more food and do more physical work. :) I think the old timers worked more and less presurvitives than we did..and more water. grease cars would be awsome.

[JAK]

LOL. Yeah if we all did more honest work we should be allowed to sit around and chew the fat now and then.

[walls0stone]

LMAO!!!!!!!