alge to fuel almost here????????

[JackG]

Govt. says so

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/energy/news/article.cfm?c_id=37&objectid=10626164&pnum=0

[compress ignite]

Which means Military Bio-Diesel from Algae will be next.

[JackG]

Originally Posted by compress ignite

Which means Military Bio-Diesel from Algae will be next.

IIRC, bio is not in the equation......this little bugger(the alge) literally
shytes a compound that will work in a diesel engine.....
kinda like yeast turning sugar into alcohol

[swheele2]

Originally Posted by JackG

IIRC, bio is not in the equation......this little bugger(the alge) literally
shytes a compound that will work in a diesel engine.....
kinda like yeast turning sugar into alcohol

The linked article does not really give details, but I do think the algae produce oils that can be processed into biodiesel or other fuels.

[layback40]

Chemically its a lot different to the Bio diesel we know. Its likely to become more of a crude oil replacement rather than like using WVO to make bio diesel, but dont drain the swamps just yet!!

[pselaphid]

Although not really stressed in the article, the appeal of algae based biofuels is the potential to bioengineer the oils that are produced, essentially manipulating nature to do much of the energy intensive refinery work of converting messy oils into a nice clean fuel source. That algae produces oil is not big news, but bacterial genes spliced into algae to produce biodiesel, or offgassing gasoline; that's the real story.

[rcounts]

Yeah, at present what they are producing with algae is oil very similar to veggie oil. Then they refine it into bio. If you read the article closely it says that

Darpa's research projects have already extracted oil from algal ponds at a cost of US$2 a gallon. It is on track to begin large-scale refining of that oil into jet fuel, at a cost of less than US$3 a gallon...

Which is right in line with the cost to mass process VO into bio (about $1 a gallon). The beauty of algae is that it can be grown in vertical tanks and produce a LOT more oil per acre than any oil seed. Plus it doesn't take much but water, nutrients (sewage, garbage, other wastes) and sunlight to grow. Where most of the research has been concentrated up to this point is in developing strains of algae that produce more oil than ordinary natural strains...

[Codifex Maximus]

I read an article a while back about algae biofuel production. It's one of those techs like the new ceramics that are pretty much hush hush.
Anyway, they grow the algae, skim it off, squeeze it for oil, ferment it for methanol and/or ethanol, then feed what's left, if anything, to the livestock.
It's been applied to clean coal tech to scrub the output from the smokestack to nearly clean. Pipe the exhaust thru the algae tanks.

Very exciting stuff!

[dadette123]

http://www.nationalalgaeassociation.com/

If you want to learn more about algae...

[Eric]

Commercial algae BioDiesel has been "a year or two away" for a decade or two now. They are always predicting production yields on lab samples, but real field results have always turned up disappointing.

Govt. says so

Since when do people believe in the government?

[layback40]

In 1978 the Director of R&D of EXXON in a presentation to Employees at the Texas Division HQ said that "there had been significant success with using algae to produce a crude replacement. This work would continue, economics and crude supply being the factors determining it commercialization".
How do I know this? I was at the presentation.

[Codifex Maximus]

With Govt backing, we might just get somewhere. We would be looking pretty deficient if a big war broke out and we couldn't get the necessary crude.

After all, war plans in WWII were drawn up with crude oil sources in mind. It's a real Achilles Heel for the US.

For me, this lends an air of truth to the original post. I'm hopeful.

[winmutt]

Now if they can only make a biodiesel ****ting algae that eats kudzu, well be gtg!

[abiggercamera]

I am working on a project to turn diesel into algae. I am having good success with the colder than normal weather in Texas this year. I am using the tank in my 300 SD as the fermenter.
Please advise. . .

[Codifex Maximus]

Winmutt:
"Now if they can only make a biodiesel ****ting algae that eats kudzu, well be gtg"
I'll bet you could get a grant for that.

abiggercamera:
"I am working on a project to turn diesel into algae. -snip- I am using the tank in my 300 SD as the fermenter."
ditto