There is a trend towards using renewable biofuels as a viable alternative to traditional petroleum. Due to this, people have been looking at using food crops like soybeans, rapeseed and palm oil to produce biodiesel. This has two problems.
1. It’s an awfully wasteful process
2. It uses food that we could be eating
However, algae can produce oil much more efficiently and without wasting the food crops we’re running short on. It’s said to be so powerful, that each acre of oil producing algae could emit 5000-15000 gallons of oil each year. In contrast, an acre of palm oil crops could only produce 635 gallons per year. Therefore, given these estimates, Nichael Briggs estimates that 15,000 square miles of algae cultivation could provide the US with all of it’s energy needs. This is in adition to many other benefits of biodiesel and biofuels out there.
Facts about Algae Oil
- Algae grow faster than any other photosynthesising organism
- 7.5 Billion gallons of biodiesel could be produced on 200,000 hectares of desert land
- The remains of the algae – once oil has been extracted – make for an excellent animal feed
- The ability of a pond to grow algae is limited by surface area – not by volume
- Current tests have not explored the true potential of algae oil production
Algae Oil in Use at Power Plants
One company in Camb ridge, Massachusettes, has created a system to utilise the CO2 from power plant exhaust fumes for its algae oil production. Using NASA technology, Green Fuel Technologies have been able to cut carbon emissions from the power plants by up to 82 percent. Not only are carbon emissions reduced, but Green Fuel Technologies estiates that their algae oil reactors could provide 2025% of our transportation oil needs.
This technology doesn’t have to be confined to powerplants, this could be used in breweries or any other manufacturing process which produces carbon emissions as a biproduct.
Why Has Uptake on Algae Oil Been Slow?
This is what I find difficult to believe. Sure there are advantages and disadvantages to algae oil production but it can’t be that bad right? Why do you think that uptake on biodiesel has been so slow in the US?
Related Sites
Related Posts
- Algae Biodiesel: The Real Green Fuel
- Benefits & Advantages of Algae Oil / Fuel
- How Biodiesel is Made Into Fuel
- How to Use Biofuel or Biodiesel in Cars
- Identifying the Benefits of Biodiesel
- Biofuel Cars: How They Run From Green Fuel
- Alternative Fuels to Petrol / Gasoline
- Energy Links
September 19th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Wow… this is really a phenomenal source of fuel. So let me get this straight – it takes CO2 from the atmosphere, converts it into Oxygen through photosynthesis and then creates biodiesel with that gas?
Therefore, if we just used this as a fuel source we could finally have a carbon neutral source of petrodiesels…
Can biodiesel be used to produce plastics and whatnot?
September 19th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Not sure, Harriet.
Word on the grape vine says that it’s possible, but I didn’t do too much of an indepth search.: http://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=976
As far as I know you can make plastic into diesel though: http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/float-to-fuel-plasticdiesel-conversion/2005/08/28/1125167552003.html
You’re dead right though – this renewable source of fuel is amazing but I really wonder why its uptake has been slow. Perhaps it has been due to costs or the fact most cars need to be converted to use diesel – whatever, I guess time will tell.
September 19th, 2008 at 8:40 am
So, how do you produce algae oil? Surely it cant be all that hard?
September 19th, 2008 at 8:50 am
It’s pretty easy in theory, you just need the right strain of algae which produces the most amount of lipids (oils).
Since algae grows really quickly, you can produce a lot of oil, but in order for it to grow quickly you need to grow it under the right conditions. As described above, it’s growth is dependent on surface area exposed to sunlight and CO2.
Then you need the right amount of nutrients like phosphorous, potassium and nitrogen. There are other chemicals but scientist believe that one day we could harness wastewater as a source of nutrients for algae growth.
Once the algae has done it’s job, you can usually get up to 40% of the solution as oil. I think this is extracted using the process of distillation.
I haven’t tried it – nor do I think I’m game. Distilling biofuels is a disaster waiting to happen.
September 19th, 2008 at 8:51 am
For more info about algae oil, check out the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel
PS. You’re not thinking about producing your own algae oil or biofuel for that matter?
September 19th, 2008 at 9:02 am
No, god no. That would be insane. There is no way I would distill fuels in my house – especially with all the oil fires and explosions you hear about at professional distilleries. Who cares if it has a higher combustion point and is considered safer – I value my life LOL.
October 13th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
[...] One of the issues surrounding the production of biodiesel is that growing crops for biodiesel uses arable land that could be used for food production, and this could lead to further problems with world hunger and rising food prices. However, this is not a problem with algae biodiesel, as this can be grown on unproductive land using sewage (seriously!), nor with waste tallow and waste vegetable oil, as this is left over after it has been used for food - a common source of waste vegetable (and other) oil is from fast food outlets. In fact, algae oil can even thrive off exhaust fumes from powerplants. [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Smart move Harriet.
Also, I am told by diesel mechanics and engineers that in order for biofuel to work – it needs to be darn clean. Hence, you need to filter it, distill it and be sure that it’ll not clog your fuel injectors. They are tiny and if any particles in the fuel clog the injectors, you could mess up your engines. I think I’ll leave this to experts to figure out.
June 26th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Where can I purchase seed algae for oil production?
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:01 am
I believe that we will turn out which has a mixture of standard power and add in some electric from natural resources like solar and wind.