bidiesel from algae - the best solution

[HepCatJack]

One interesting possibility would be to use the water from oceanic dead zones that have become so because of the precence of too many chemical fertilizers. Using that water would reduce the presence of chemical fertilizers in it and that would lower the amount of algae growing at the bottom.

(They could perhaps also harvest the macro-algae growing there to give the area a chance to get some oxygen back into the water).

[dieselsmoke21]

Ok all you naysayers listen up. This technology is probably the best solution to the problem with our fuel consumption. Diesel engines are far superior than conventional engines. Secondally the algie can be made in the desert and remote places of the US and not take up good crop land, while possibly using solar energy to produce it. Thirdly instead of pumping oil out of the ground overseas we would be employing US citizens to produce this biofuel, it would create jobs. Everyone wins.

[plutominusone]

big oil companys dont like this do they

[Pelencho]

Its unbelievable that intelligent poeople spend a lot of money in such nonsense things. The first that must have a researcher is common sense

[Cervicconstruction]

Face the future with an open mind,there are alternatives to dooming the human race in cesspool of the greed of big oil.Tell me this why can Tesla come out with a mid sized family car next year that will get 275 miles to the charge.A company with limited assets and capitol investment.The best a multi trillion dollar corporation GM with the millions they can throw at R&D is the VOLT at over 40,000 a copy.What a joke

[timetraveler3797]

the tesla roadster is quite expensive, while the original EV1 produced by GM could get 100 mile charges with technology at the time, while costing as much as an SUV that people seemed to love.

[Cervicconstruction]

Get current my friend the roadster was just the prototype and the car that would create intrest in the company.The Mid size car comming out in 2010 will be a 5 passenger car that will get 275 miles to the charge.Why do you so adamantly continue to support dead technology.People like yourself that have demonized any attempt to get this country off the dead end of fossil fuel transportation of any kind.Are you heavily invested in EXXON?.I just don"t get it.

[timetraveler3797]

I'm not sure you got the intent of the message that I wrote, did you miss the praise for the EV1? Or that fact I mentioned that if people had the money for an SUV they had money for an electric car? And Quit demonizing the Oil sellers, if you want them taken down, start a business in using waste oil, biofuel crop(not corn, not soybeans) or an electric battery sub-station to compete, and make sure to Lobby for laws in your favour. Otherwise, shut up and stop being a whining do nothing pussy.

[Cervicconstruction]

well didn't take long for you to show your ignorance and start name calling instead of intelligent dialog.

End of transmission

[Clyaton]

@timetraveler3797 Electricity vs. gas isn't an issue until over half of America's electricity isn't made by coal anymore... Electric cars DO pollute, you just don't see it. We should demonize the oil sellers, because OPEC, rich bastards, have America by the balls with oil consumption largely imported... It's not just a matter of being 'green' or whatever, it's a matter of national security, that's how I see it anyway. Cheaper fuel, regardless of what it is, means cheaper EVERYTHING.

[theinsane101]

extracting the oil from the algae is expansive. geothermal and OTEC+ electric cars is the way to go.

[siliconaconcarne]

Bio-diesel is THE GREAT LIE.

If you can produce all the fuel that you want, people WILL NEVER REDUCE THEIR CO2 EMISSION. Bio diesel is the same as petrol but never ending, so that the CO2 emission will never be reduced. I'm engineering, too.

[puka3300]

at least its not increasing as with do with diesel

[ryanparente]

bio diesel is a 0 emissions process.

algae removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and then releases it back it doesn't add any more than was already there.

[timetraveler3797]

At least it won't be increased, biodeisel is carbon nuetral, that's kinda the point.

[carstars]

I need more info. If it was so productive then why don't we see zillions of alge ponds being built?

[timetraveler3797]

Simple, it would be fierce competion for oil monopolies and/or costly iferstructure. Besides, ethonal lobbyiests are blocking out sugar bideisel used in brazil, what will they do to algea?

[tcurtin07]

it also costs a lot of money to research and produce. You need specific strands of algae, which is the trouble they originally had years ago with the NREL years ago.  Foreign strands kept invading the ponds. It works best to produce the algae in an enclosed area, which costs significantly more than a pond.

[timetraveler3797]

I think that's called a greenhouse, it's not that damn expensive. Greenhouses are used commercialy, so it should be an ivestment, not a detriment.

[plumber3dad]

No Kidding! All that equipment could be bought at a home center. Except those pool float mat thingys. And the water is non potable like AC condensation or potty water.

[timetraveler3797]

There's new ideas on just to keep a closed system that just spins off oil with little cleaning or conatmintaion. I read about that 3 days ago.

[tetranoob]

Apparently you can use sound to open up the algae and extract the lipids. Ultrasound probably

[timetraveler3797]

Please tell me the article where you found that. I am trying to find a way to produce it myself to prove it just isn't that hard.

[gpotteiger]

what they don't tell you is that they seem to have problems making this algae compete with regular algae species. I like this technology and believe we should keep working on it but it does have its problems.

[NordicWoman]

Vertigro is an algae producing system out of El Paso, Tx. that by using a more efficient and less costly vertical system, can produce 100,000+ gal. of oil per acre of land per year versus 20-30 gal. of oil per acre/yr. from corn. The best part is that it can be put anywhere. Non-Agricultural land, like in the desert. It is simply amazing.

[maxhassouna]

Hi nordic woman,could you be kind and place a link or message me as to how to go about it?Cheers!

[kwestionEverything]

does anyone know the name of a high fat algae species that would be good for this?

[dufusrunescape]

liberate the oil! liberate the oil!

[dufusrunescape]

how do u get the oil part out of the algee plz?

[maxhassouna]

I would like to know too!

[kwestionEverything]

i really dont know but if i had to guess id say strain it to separate it from the water toss it in an oil press then skim of the oil floating at the top. maybe send that oil through a coffy filter or something to get any impurities that float up with it. if anyone knows the real way they do i want to know too :)

[spendysly]

Look at Valcent technology vctpf.ob Very interesting biodiesel and vegetable growing solutions. Grow closer to the source, and less is spent on trucking the product to market. Anyway good vid

[jloveshe]

This guy has his s**t together, good job!

[greyflcn]

Say, have you read this?

greyfalcon. net/ algae4

[jloveshe]

seems your link doesn't work greyfalcon. net/ algae4 any tips?

[greyflcn]

==seems your link doesn't work greyfalcon. net/ algae4 any tips?==

Sure, remove the spaces between . net, and / algae4

[tomterahedrob]

thanks! you said it all those 4 resouces you get from algae .perfect summary.why is it from Al Gore to the media in general we ar not hearing of this as fuel ,greenhouse gases,foodand water solutution??

[NortonYorksterdam]

It's nearly impossible to STOP algae from growing - this is a close to free renewable energy as we're going to get. It's just a super efficient way of converting solar energy to biomass.

This progressive refinement of the algae into various types of fuel is interesting, I will do some more reading.

[NortonYorksterdam]

The first company to build large scale algae plants is going to make billions. Imagine most energy domestically produced in a mostly environmentally-friendly way?

[obamahillary]

yes! algaeamerica/dotcom

[Davossssss]

aglae wnt grow if co2 is pump into the water it has to be still

[westcoastoffense]

what are you talking about? have you studied this whatsoever? doesn't seem like it....you work for Monsanto, ADM or Cargill?

[projectbiodiesel]

Genetic modification of algae is not a foregone conclusion. We can only hope that the industry can establish itself before these agribusiness firms can take control and once again take a good idea and turn it into something bad(soy biodiesel, corn ethanol, etc.).

[westcoastoffense]

i hope you didn't think my ADM/Cargill comment was directed at you projectbiodiesel...you seem to know exactly what i am talking about...i have been trying to tell folks about algae bio-d for 2 yrs...most people just give you that blank dead stare look and can't comprehend the difference between 50 gallons per acre vs 10,000+ gallons per acre per year

[westcoastoffense]

amen brother! don't know why more people aren't thinking about and on this...could be revolutionary in more ways than one...well stated points in less than 2 minutes....good job

[active650guy]

I applaude all the various efforts to combat global warming whether it's solar, wind, or biofuels. Algae-to-biofuel is still in it's infancy and needs to be thouroughly investigated, we haven't put much money into it's research. Even if Algae cannot be converted to Biodiesel, at least it could be used to clean the CO2 from these coal plants and could be used as a food source.

[Pablovoncrunchnoble]

Thank you the NREL needs to publish the document on algea oils it cost the taxpayers 50 million we need the name of the oilest easiest to grow algea. hopefully in municipal sewer waters. And in general you can not eat crude oil. You can eat corn or soy so please bring the bio-love-solution to the farming community. especially the SVO conversion to all tractors. PLease Isaac Berzin's work with retro fitted algea enhanced bong stacks-scrub the pollution out and grow algea oil fuel

[SeattleGuy1968]

For some reason, youtube spammer greyflcn is very afraid of the concept of using ALGAE for fuel...I wonder if he has some kind of agenda....

[SeattleGuy1968]

greyflcn - no, by looking at all your spam posts against almost all biodiesel videos, your biased against too much for some reason, and make no sense - so you're more or less just spam with false information.

[greyflcn]

Algae hasn't actually gotten past 1000 gal/acre/year in any real applications. With a dramatically higher operation cost. (i.e. Not cost effective)

Theoretically it could get 10,000

But then again, theoretically we'd all be using cold fusion and not need to worry about energy.

[geoffreyphilip]

making no sense once again.

[SeattleGuy1968]

YES to Biodiesel from Algae! GOOGLE Biodiesel and Algae!

[greyflcn]

greyflcn. blogspot. com/ 2007/ 05/ biodiesel.html

And SeatleGuy, I have a reply for you on "You don't understand my biofuel"

Believe me, I know more than enough on the subject.

[greyflcn]

You know what they say about things that sound too good to be true.

tinyur l . com/ 3brbx8

John Benemann, On the subject of biodiesel from algae, he literally wrote the book. From a man who knows as much about this subject as anyone else in the world. And he bears bad news for those who had visions of driving around in algae-fueled transportation.

[greyflcn]

Is it really?

Sure if the CO2 comes from natural carbon

But all the plans for Algae are merely temporary placeholders for fossil carbon. (i.e. literally attached directly to power plants)

Coal powered biofuel isn't exactly the most sustainable concept.

And whats worse is what they intend to do in the near future could obliterate any sort of benefit we'd get from this.

greyfalcon. net/ biofuel

[projectbiodiesel]

The united states and other counries burn fossil fuels like coal to generate electric power, and most likely will continue to do so for a long time. As long as this coal is being burned anyway, we might as well use it for something rather than letting it go straight into the atmosphere.

[greyflcn]

re: projectbiodiesel

--As long as this coal is being burned anyway, we might as well use it for something rather than letting it go straight into the atmosphere. --

Not really. We're best off doing what is the most effective for the least cost.

And holding on to some fossil carbon, with an elaborate bio reactor, while emitting plenty more to process it isn't going to do us much good.

Wouldn't be much different than just turning the coal into a liquid in the first place.

[greyflcn]

For instance assuming perfect conditions

11% solar energy captured (Theoretical limit of photosynthesis)

0.68 Fischer Trophe Refining (32 BTUs from an original 100 BTUs)

0.10 Transportation (Little bit on the low side)

0.43 Burned in an engine (Upper end of diesel effeciency)

0.32164% solar energy delivered

Meanwhile, you can print solar panels at 8%-15% effeciency at 2 feet a minute.

And losses end up with 6.16%-11.55%

And they expect to double that effeciency soon with "Quantum Dots"

[greyflcn]

One step removed is what Purdue was proposing, the H2Car porgram. theoildrum. com/ node/ 2397 Use solar electricity, make hydrogen, combine it with CO2, out pops fuel. Sounds simple? Problem it'd require about 8x more electricity than the entire grid makes now. Liquid fuels aren't the future. Although I can tell you what is: 50 cents a gallon. greyfalcon. net/ plugins And twice as green as gasoline with even the dirtiest coal. aceee. org/ pubs/ t061.htm And here Now.

[projectbiodiesel]

Biodiesel is here now too, but plug in hybrids and biodiesel are not mutually exlusive. Dodge has a prototype diesel hybrid that gets 72 miles per gallon. This car could run on biodiesel and be fitted with the plug-in conversion kit you speak of.

Its all about waste stream conversion. Plug-in hybrids need power generated most likely by coal (in the US). Use the C02 from that power plant to make fuel to run those hybrids.

[greyflcn]

Heh, well the plugin conversion kit is just for the short term.

What you're going to see is a movement away from "Prius-like" hybrids, and more towards fully electric cars w/ just the bare minimum to add an electric generator for extra flexibility and range.

greyfalcon. net/ electriccars.png

In particular they already plan to make one of those for the Phoenix SUV.

[greyflcn]

Except why would we use BioDiesel at all in that scenario?

The purported benefits of biodiesel longer exist.

No sulfur in diesel fuel since October 2006

Manditory particulate filters as of January 2007

And federally subsidized (and cheap) particulate filter retrofits.

Meanwhile biodiesel crops could easily be far worse for the environment than oil.

biofuelwatch. org. uk/ biofuelindustryresponses %5B1 %5D.pdf

Why should we go down such a risky path, with little to no benefits?

[projectbiodiesel]

Electric vehicles are great, and their death in the 20s and again in the 90s was due to intentional actions by automakers. Due to this there are a limited number of electric vehicles in the world, while millions of diesels are used every day.

Like it or not, biofuels will be an essential part of the energy picture for many years to come. Petroleum will run out before a massive infrastructure change to electric, hydrogen, or other clean alternative fuel.

[projectbiodiesel]

The future of energy will be about diversity and efficiency, no single source of energy is plentiful enough to replace fossil fuels. In order to make it past petroleum (and coal) we are going to have to wring every last bit of energy out of our available resources.

We need to use the CO2 from electric plants to make fuel, collect waste grease to run city buses, harvest methane from garbage dumps, make ethanol from farm waste, Install solar panels. And, above all, use less energy.

[greyflcn]

Collecting waste grease is nice and all, but it should be used efficiently, not as biodiesel.

(Especially not with Methanol made from natural gas)

greyfalcon. net/ biodiesel.png

insidegreentech. com/ node/ 376

Best way to use "farm waste" is as charcoal fertilizer.

(Primarily because it prevents the use of petroleum based fertilizers, and N2O emmisions)

greyfalcon. net/ biofuels3

Electricity itself is inherently, efficient and flexible.

greyfalcon. net/ hydrogen.png

[greyflcn]

re: projectbiodiesel

--Petroleum will run out before a massive infrastructure change to electric--

Uhm... we already have an electric infrastructure.

And "Peak Oil" only means we're at half way, not running on empty.

And most likely "biofuels" won't be any significance.

A synthetic electricity + water + CO2 = Liquid fuel, program maybe. Or even a liquified coal program.

But Biofuels are inherently wasteful and inefficient.

[projectbiodiesel]

Over 70% of US electricity is generated from non renewable fossil fuel sources, with another 19% coming from nuclear. This is not an infrastructure aimed at sustainability or minimizing environmental impact. I totally support electric vehicles, but we shouldn't just burn more coal to charge our cars, we should try to get as much energy as possible out of the coal that we have to burn. Algal biodiesel is a way to use the waste CO2 stream from coal plants to make a usable fuel.

[greyflcn]

Well I agree with you on the fact that

1. Algae may have potential

2. Get more energy from coal

3. Burn less coal

However

1. Algae has yet to prove itself.

2. CO2 doesn't contain any energy. However we could easily design better coal fired power plants that get double the energy per unit of coal.

3. A coal powered electric car is no worse than a Prius in CO2 emmisions.

Now if algae works, great. But without it biofuels would easily be worse than oil or liquified coal.

[SeattleGuy1968]

YES! Biodiesel from ALGAE is the future!

[misssmarika]

I'm researching for a speech that I'll be doing on how the current biofuels aren't as efficient as some may think and I'm definitely going to add this bit of information to it. Very interesting and super cool!