I don't know about ultimate, but it sure sounds pretty good.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/04/01/algae.oil/index.html

__________________
1982 240D, sold 9/17/2008
1987 300D TurboW124.133 - 603.960, 722.317 - Smoke Silver Metallic / Medium Red (702/177), acquired 8/15/2009
262,715 and counting

Thanks!

__________________
'84 300SD sold
124.128

Algae is my bet for an alternative fuel. Corn ethanol and Hydrogen are basically a waste of time.

Here's my prediction, Exxon buys all the patents and shelves the technology until they have sold all their reserves. Think about it, they have like 100 Billion in profits to spend, it would make good business sense.

Wanna get richer than EXXON-Mobile all by yourself? Figure out how to decouple photosynthesis from a living organism. Voila'!

Its about time somebody started producing it.

This technology is literally the greatest hope for producing a substantial quantity of biodiesel. I try to turn everyone on to it that will even halfway listen.

Please learn everything you can about it, join applicable forums and spread the word. The technology is just a step away from practical mass production and if an appropriate amount of money were spent on it these hurdles could be overcome.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

I think that if this got underway in the proper (honest) hands, this could be epic. My only fear is that some companies with less than moral ideals get their hands on it.

__________________
1982 240D, sold 9/17/2008
1987 300D TurboW124.133 - 603.960, 722.317 - Smoke Silver Metallic / Medium Red (702/177), acquired 8/15/2009
262,715 and counting

I'll get on it, but it'll have to take a back bench to my nuclear fusion project. Same approximate timelines and expected outcomes, mind.

__________________
Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

The nice thing is that farming it is a simple technology. Extracting the oil will probably become backyard science as well. I predict there will be hundreds of small time algae operators extracting and brewing algea based bio diesel within 10-15 years... If possible, I will be one of them.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

You don't have to wait that long

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/methane_pain.html

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGSl72xZHNk&eurl=http://www.watchuonline.com/video/BGSl72xZHNk/ARTI-India-Biogas-from-food-waste.html

These are both ways to produce methane, which I think is even more versatile than biodiesel. You could compress it and run a car on it, run you water heater, stove, furnace, pool heater etc...

You can't get any more low tech

Yes, but how do you turn atp into electricity? what we need is a bacteria (or algae) that takes sunlight and converts it directly into 120VAC...

__________________
"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

What does that mean, Bot, and why is it valuable?

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Photosynthesis takes the raw materials of light, water and CO2 and produces a simple 3 carbon molecule. Molecule is taken by the organism and either burned immediately in cellular respiration or converted to glucose (combining 2, 3-carbon molecules) used as a building block to synthesize everything else in the body, power for which is derived from photosynthesis.

Once you have that 3-carbon molecule you have the first step in creating long chain hydrocarbons. Living organisms do not like to create volatile long chain molecules so they polymerize long-chain stable molecules like starch, fat, and cellulose. The 3-carbon product of photosynthesis is highly unstable and if not immediately captured for use, will decompose into CO2 and water.

So if a clever biochemical engineer could decouple life from photosynthesis he could catch that 3-carbon molecule and build a chain that could be useful to human beings -- like say, long chain esters.