CNN feature on algae derived biofuel

[TheStormyleewolf]

Problem is plastic that you see it in is made from crude oil. I remember MSN saying plastic was made from oil and we would not have plastic cups if we ran out of oil

[perkele311]

We need to get this moving quickly. R&D as much as possible. This needs to be rolled out ASAP. What are we waiting for?

[ddnguyen278]

Algae produces 100x more fuel for given area than any other crop and it doesn't need good soil to do it. Say goodbye to the age of oil, it's the age of Algae!

[jeffsandychelsea]

This is even better than hemp biofuels (not that we shouldn't grow hemp for its multitude of other uses) because it can grow in areas that are unusable for food crops.

[davepamn]

Algae is grown in long plastic bags

Algae is shiphon off fast

100,000 gallons of algae oil per acre per year.

10th of New Mexico could provide enough fuel for the transportation of the United States.

What are the trends for Biodiesel from Algae by 2020?

[bobstevefrank123]

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit....guy's lying to get VC money. Algae's not 100,000 diesel gallons/acre. It's 2,000 gallons at a very optimistic estimation according to independent scientific reports. You will have to cover the entire Gulf with algae to get enough biodiesel to handle just North America's fuel needs. The answer to our problems is still yet to be developed.

[a10fjet]

I was all for this until they started in with the Patenting thing. Monsanto all over again?

[a10fjet]

I was all for this until they started in with the Patenting thing. Monsanto all over again?

[MinkisBaby]

Algae biofuel looks better than that fossil fuel crap we use today. & I bet it's better for our environment too <3

[Brennan29]

Ive been following the Algae thing for about a year now and Im a big fan, everything Ive read and heard sounds great. Anyone have any idea how much crude oil is could actually replace if brought onto full swing production? And does anyone have any good IPO ideas for any of the start ups? Let go Algae fuel!! I want to put you in my car allready!! And I want to give my money to those of you who really get it to the pumps!!

[sgohara]

it actually will act as a reservoir too, taking co2 out of the air we already put there, and keeping contained within the mass of the algae farms. So its a good way to start reversing the amount of co2 already in the atmosphere.

[maxhassouna]

I hv tried to contact this company several times but to no avail,i begening to think this is just a hoax!

[melrobRTF]

@maxhassouna Hello, If you live in europe you can buy it at algae-planet(dot)com. It is based in holland and sells various lipid-rich strains to enthusiasts.

[cdltpx]

This is why the oil companies want to have all the wars they can to collect all the cash they can while the tap is flowing. They need to do all they can to get lock step in motion before the gennie is out the bottle that we can use biodiesel with solar produced hho to get from place to place.

[trexheliflyer]

Pond scum is great. Wish more attention was given to it as an alternative to imported oil.

[flyingpigstuff]

So he is patenting already existing algae? Maybe I should patent him then sue him for using my design?

[Pelencho]

These people dont have even idea what they are doing, algae grow with light and cannot be grown under such shadow conditions, these bags maka shadow each other. Te visible concentration is very low and the expenses in harvesting will be very high due to the low dry weigth content.

Yo should read first Mr. Benneman in NREL, instead of wasting money

[mack70214]

does the gas from algae have a higher BTU than propane?

[Yassiib]

this is amazing and i think that we have to get more people to know about this because if it really works then is is truly AMAZING

[tetranoob]

A patent?

[BlacklitFloater]

Yeah that's the one thing that seems odd, I hope they're not considering stuff like GM algae. That could ruin this entire idea's credibility.

[am1818am]

@BlacklitFloater GM algae are definitely being studied. The metabolic pathway of lipid production (lipids are used to produce biodiesel) is being studied in hopes to be able to modify the pathway and obtain higher lipid yields. Algae's light antennae are being genetically engineered to be smaller to improve photosynthetic efficiency (the antennae dissipate excess light photons into heat instead of using all the photons for photosynthesis)

[BlacklitFloater]

@am1818am yeah it's been a while.

Well, whatever the method, it's gotta be better than this BP mess.

[AL1999K]

Burning the diesel bio fuel emits very little co2. So its really a step forward on both ends. Growing the algae captures CO2. Then you take the algae oil and use it for bio fuel that emits very little CO2.

[enantiomer2000]

this is BS. it will never work.

[scienceissalvation]

Yes it will. Oil is created from Pond Scum. The same material. Algea does not require the other energy needs that corn or oil do. It also doubles and reproduces much faster and continuous. So it can be harvested year round. It is much more efficient of a biofuel. It is known as carbon-nuetral which all biofuels are. This has much potential and of all the alternative fuel solutions, behind the scenes, this is getting alot of attention and money from , Shell, Exxon, Boeing, American Airlines.

[enantiomer2000]

well maybe it has a chance then.

[am1818am]

@enantiomer2000 It IS working already.

It's the economics that aren't, because as of right now, a high value added by-product (i.e. beta carotene) needs to be sold with biofuel in order for biofuel from microalgae to be profitable - while technologies are still being developed.

[xwizzard]

Question: if the concern is green house gasses and CO2 production by burning alternative fuels how are we fixing this problem? I agree this is a great source for biofuel, but isnt the global "climate change" issue being overlooked by burning a different kind of fuel?

[UpBeatnik]

The carbon released from fossil fuels is presicely that, ie. fossilized carbon that took millions of years to sequester. Since the industrial revolution (just over a century), we have been releasing billions of tons of this 'fossil carbon', hence the warming. This algae system captures it's carbon from the atmosphere, and releases less carbon when it's burned than it captured in it's production (some is converted into thermal energy in the combustion process). UpBeatnik

[xwizzard]

but carbon is still released, still seems like a half-way point between fossil fuels and a real zero-emission solution.

[scienceissalvation]

Carbon is released but it is a cycle within in the earth so the earth's carbon level always remains nuetral.

[Skoda130]

@UpBeatnik The energy costs for making algae based fuels, are higher then the profit.

[xwizzard]

On a pure carbon to carbon ratio, yes I see the benefits. The problem I see is that in any combustion reaction there are other products, plants and algae are NOT composed entirely carbon. Nitrogen and sulfur oxides are both pollutants created by burning plant-based fuels. Although there are methods of reducing the production, I've yet to see a program that pulls the existing pollution from the atmosphere and removes it from the air cycle.

[AndrewDeLong]

@xwizzard

Well, I can see where the sulfur might be an issue, but Nitrogen is hardly anything to worry about, seeing as it comprises a majority of our atmosphere anyway.

But then, I'm not quite a chemist (yet)...so I'm not claiming expertise on anything. :-/

[platinum243125]

@UpBeatnik Good point, but you can't convert atoms into energy in a regular chemical process. To do that, you would be breaking the law of conservation of matter. But, you can, however, use the carbon that would regularly react to form co2, and get it into a different reaction so it produces something less harmful...

[40joel]

@UpBeatnik thats exactly what I was going to say!

[kmagstudios]

Biofuel puts off a lot less CO2 then fossil fuels, but the algae from which this fuel comes from uses the CO2 to grow, so it comes around full circle... so the impact would be close to 0... Algae is definitely the future of Alternative Energy...

[AndrewDeLong]

@kmagstudios

Actually, it might even be the case that not all of the CO2 that goes into the algae is released again upon burning, which would make the carbon impact a very slight negative impact...a good thing in this case.

[FreeMTrider]

@kmagstudios another point is the end of hazardous waste in three forms of toxic waste from oil refinery. It would also limit our need for billions of dollars a year ($50 billion in just military bases alone) in military spending to secure our petroleum needs.

[michaelfranzau]

@xwizzard

the biodiesal is made from CO2 then it emits it, its carbon neutral in out in out

get it?

[Darthbelal]

@xwizzard CO2 isn't anywhere near a potent greenhouse gas as you seem to think. Also, it's plant food and vital for life on earth. On a geologic scale, there was many times the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere as there is today. You think carbon dioxide is bad, it's needed.

[xwizzard]

@Darthbelal In any combustion reaction there are other products, plants and algae are NOT composed entirely of carbon. Nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide are both pollutants created by burning plant-based fuels. Although there are methods of reducing the production, I've yet to see a program that pulls the existing pollution from the atmosphere and removes it from the air cycle and/or re-uses it. Combustion is a natural process, but massive scale combustion is unnatural and unsustainable.

[mvelemirovich]

As a Volkswagen dealer, I can tell you thousands of VW diesel owners are looking for high-quality biodiesel from a source such as this. Great work! Mike Velemirovich, Hillcrest Volkswagen, Nova Scotia