Algae Biodiesel: The Real Green Fuel

The story of algae biodiesel is one of those real trash-to-treasure stories.  Most of us, if we have to clean out a septic tank, only think about getting the job done as soon as possible.  Not many of us would stop to look closely or study the repulsive looking sludge in any detail.  But there’s a very good chance that the sludge in a septic tank contains the answer – or one of the answers – to the rapidly dwindling supplies of crude oil/petroleum.

Algae biodiesel is one of several sustainable sources of biodiesel, along with biodiesel and biofuel produced from plants such as corn, potatoes or sugarcane.  However, algae biodiesel is looking much more promising for the future, as problems have arisen with biodiesel sourced from crops.  Biodiesel sourced from land-grown crops cause something of a problem for world food production, as the land (and the crops) that would otherwise have gone to grow food for people is being used to grow the feedstocks for biodiesel.

Benefits & Advantages of Algae Oil

Algae biodiesel doesn’t have this problem, as the algae used to produce the biodiesel grow in water.  And, what’s more, the algae won’t take up your fresh drinking water.  Waste water will do just fine for growing algae – yes, even in septic tanks, although they’re still working on the best way and place to grow a lot of algae quickly and efficiently.

Algae biodiesel is also more efficient than plant-sourced biofuels.  According to one source, you can get the same amount of oil (which will be refined into biodiesel) out of an area the size of a double garage with algae as you can out of a football field planted in soybeans.

This is because, unlike plants, most of the algae produces sugars and oils.  The sugars go to make ethanol (another biofuel) and the oils go into biodiesel.

What’s more, the algae used for biodiesel grow much more quickly than plants.  You’ve probably seen how quickly pond scum can grow.  Compare this to the 3 months or so that it takes for potatoes or corn to produce a crop to harvest, whether for food or for biofuel.  Algae can double in mass in 24 hours or even quicker.

Producing algae does not take good, arable land away from food production.  Yes, you do need space for growing algae for biodiesel, but this does not have to be on arable land.  Marginal or otherwise unusable land is perfectly adequate.  Desert areas (e.g. the Outback) work well, if you can get the water to them, especially as the warmer temperatures are probably conducive to algal growth. Many believe that pumping sewerage out to algae oil farms will be suffice.

Other Names for Algae Oil

Algae biodiesel is also known by several other names:

• algal fuel
• third-generation biofuel
• oilgae