It doesn't have the sunny cache of solar or the exotic qualities of wind, tidal and geothermal power. But the rapidity of algae fuel's reported advances are hard to ignore. At least for this former reporter.
In my backyard at the University of California, Merced, researchers received a grant to "perform a comprehensive life cycle analysis study of algae biofuels." The money, a modest $142,747, is part of about $3.5 million issued by the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research program.
Algae takes a back seat in the grant to other projects that include improving grid reliability, energy efficiency and automobile fuel economy. But, hey, it's algae. Pond scum. This is the stuff that may be grown in wastewater settling ponds, harvested and turned into diesel fuel. Or food additives, you never know.
But the important thing is algae wasn't left out. It's not cold fusion. This stuff shows true promise as an alternative energy source.
CEC Commissioner Jeffrey Byron put it this way in a statement from the agency: "California's strength comes from the ability to invest in energy research across the board."
No kidding. And this pond scum just may keep oil prices from breaking the bank. Cambridge, Mass.-based Joule Unlimited announced that it has created a "cynobacterium" that secrete a product identical to ethanol or diesel fuel, according to Joule biologist Dan Robertson, quoted in dailytech.com.
This breakthrough, the company says, could enable the production of 15,000 gallons of diesel per acre annually. The company says it can do it for $30 a barrel.
That has yet to be proved commercially, of course. But developments are coming hot and heavy across the globe. Biodigest.com rattled off a handful of promising developments in Australia, topping off the list with serious production efforts by Aurora Algae and Algae.Tec.
And Oilgae.com/blog/, an aggregator of stories, lists multiple posts daily. One that caught my eye highlighted a peer review of the draft report "Biofuels and the Environment: First Triennial Report to Congress," scheduled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report will give Congress a taste of what's coming.
Expect pond scum to do more than lurk in a puddle on the floor with lobbyists during discussion.
I do like to include practical applications in these rants. Nothing epitomizes that more than the biofuel-powered Bentley Continental Supersports convertible, reportedly capable of more than 200 mph. The vehicle debuted this week at the Geneva Auto Show in Switzerland. Ami Cholia of inhabitat.com writes: "an on-board fuel supply system monitors the content of the fuel tank to make sure that power and torque remain constant regardless of the ratio of petrol to biofuel."
Pretty cool. So it can handle anything you throw at it and still go fast. We put fuel oil in a bug once and it ran. Barely. We had to clean the plugs, but it got us out of a jam.
The Bentley, I assume, would be better.
Biofuels still must prove themselves. Ethanol, even as an additive, has gotten mixed reviews. For instance, the lawnmower mechanic in Old Town Clovis told me if I kept using that "cheap garbage gas" I'd continue to have problems with my mower's carburetor. Her gripe? Ethanol. It gets gummy and nasty if allowed to sit too long. (Hint: use stabilizer.)
UC Merced plans to analyze emerging algae biofuels technology and provide feedback on the rather interesting concept of extracting fuel that doesn't require much land, water or tending. And pond scum grows rapidly in any kind of water. The leftover material, after oil extraction, could be used for fertilizer.
"We will consider the efficient use of residual algae biomass as an energy rich waste stream and new harvesting techniques that could improve the sustainability of the overall process," wrote J. Elliott Campbell and Gerardo Diaz of UC Merced and Joseph M. Norbeck of University of California, Riverside.
As I read over their proposal, I determined that the process of extracting and refining sounds far above my paygrade.
But as I was scanning through one of the many algae related websites, I found this do-it-yourself book: "Making Algae Biodiesel at Home" (Making-Biodiesel-Books.com, $99.99). It says it can, among other things, show the home brewer how to build an 80-gallon algae photobioreactor "for less than $215."
Somehow it doesn't sound as promising as my once prolific beer-brewing efforts in Anchorage before I was married. But who knows? The practice may catch on.
All you need is a biofuel Bentley.
Mike Nemeth, project manager of the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization, spent 24 years working as a newspaperman editing and reporting from Alaska to California. The SJVCEO is a nonprofit dedicated to improving quality of life through increased use of clean and alternative energy. The SJVCEO is based in Fresno, Calif. and works with cities and counties and public and private organizations to demonstrate the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy throughout the eight-county region of the San Joaquin Valley. For more information, go to http://www.sjvcleanenergy.org.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Nemeth
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Tampilkan postingan dengan label Algae. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Algae. Tampilkan semua postingan
The Dual Benefits of Algae Farming
Posted by Labels: agro industries, Algae, Biodiesel, bioediesel production, biofuel production
For the average citizen, algae are often viewed as a problematic growth within backyard swimming pools and local rivers and ponds. On the other hand, algae are now a hot topic among environmentalists as agroindustrial developments see them being used to sequester carbon dioxide and produce biofuels. Algae can serve as a feedstock for biodiesel and ethanol. Since their basic requirements for growth include carbon dioxide, water, nutrients, and sunlight, using algae to produce biofuels can also help reduce carbon dioxide emissions at the same time as reducing the need for feedstocks that would otherwise be used for human consumption.
Indeed, some argue that algae could be perhaps the ultimate source of plant-based oil for biodiesel and ethanol, since it can flourish in otherwise hostile growing environments, including non-arable land, or in dirty water.
When algae flourishes, it is unmatched by any terrestrial feedstock known. Algae can double in mass several times daily. For example, with respect to estimating the number of US gallons of biodiesel produced from a variety of feedstock materials, algae is considered to be perhaps the highest in efficiency when compared to a variety of other crops. Algae will produce 1,800 to 15,000 gallons of biodiesel per acre (gpa): a huge amount compared to other popular biofuel feedstocks such as palm oil (508 gpa), rapeseed (102 gpa) and soy (59.2 to 98.6 gpa).
Greatest yield per acre
The US Department of Energy estimates that algae fuel can yield up to 30 times more energy per acre than land crops such as soybean, and a growing consensus suggests that biodiesel produced from algae is the only feasible solution today for replacement in full of petro-diesel products.
No other feedstock has the oil yield sufficient in volume to produce such large volumes of oil. To illustrate this point, in order to produce sufficient oil for biodiesel from crops such as soy or palm, all growing regions for all of today’s crops would have to produce simply soy (for example) to yield sufficient biodiesel for full replacement. Given the high oil yield from algae, some 10 million acres would however be sufficient – as land, pond, or ocean space – to grow enough algae to replace the total petro- diesel fuel in the United States today. This is about 1% of the total amount of acreage used in the United States today for grazing and farming; that being about 1% of one billion acres.
In the end, one could conclude that the vastly superior biodiesel feedstock material for the large scale replacement of petro-diesel is clearly algae. However, in order to produce large scale quantities of algae for such massive biodiesel projects, it is essential to have sustainable high oil producing strains of algae, on a large scale basis; followed by the ability to adequately extract the oil from algae on such a scale.
To follow, of course, there would need to be capabilities to convert algae oil into biodiesel. The first two steps are essentially specific to algae; and the final step is typical of all biodiesel processes related to all plant based oils.
Finally, the challenges of greatest need now are to define and refine the most viable strains of algae strains and develop/maintain the most effective and optimal cultivation methods.
Capturing carbon
But what other benefits do algae bring? Well, as mentioned at the start of this piece, algae can also be used to sequester or capture carbon dioxide at the same time as it is grown as a biofuel feedstock.
When a full loop or cycle is considered, algae require carbon dioxide to grow and thereby extract this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere as they grow. Algae can then be used in the manufacture of biodiesel and/or a feedstock for fermentation as ethanol. The production of biofuels leads to the creation of more carbon dioxide, which can then be pumped back into the cycle to boost algae growth still further. Effectively, this process kills two birds with one stone: curbing carbon dioxide emissions and creating more sustainable biofuels.
As a rule of thumb, approximately one ton of carbon dioxide would be removed (from otherwise airborne emissions) via the growth of two tons of algae. This offers us an extraordinary opportunity to reduce emissions, capture carbon dioxide, and foster new renewable energy technologies to replace diesel and jet fuels in the future.
Editor’s note: This is an edited version of an article kindly provided by Sam A. Rushing of Advanced Cryogenics, Ltd. Sam is a chemist with 30 years in the carbon dioxide industry, in both merchant and consultant roles. If you wish to contact Sam to find out more about his company’s work, send an e-mail to rushing@terranova.net or visit the Advanced Cryogenics website.
Retrieved from: Eco Periodicals
San Fransisco-based Solazyme named former CEO of BP North America Gas and Power Cameron Byers as Senior Vice President and General Manager of fuels and chemicals. Cameron’s 25 years experience at BP includes running the North American natural gas division and managing the company’s commercial oil refining and trading group.While serving as CEO of this division, Cameron was named in a 2006 federal lawsuit charging BP with manipulating propane prices pushing up heating costs for millions of American households in the winter of 2004. He brings this record, along with his experience in petroleum-based energy to the industry leading producer of renewable oil and bioproducts from microalgae.
“Cameron’s vast experience in the energy industry, specializing in building and operating downstream businesses, will be instrumental in Solazyme’s commercialization of fuels and chemicals,” said Solazyme CEO Jonathan Wolfson.
Retrieved from: Eco Periodicals
Algae are made up of eukaryotic cells (Eukaryote – from Wikipedia). These are cells with nuclei and organelles. All algae all have plastids, the bodies with chlorophyll that carry out photosynthesis. But the various lines of algae have different combinations of chlorophyll molecules. Some have only Chlorophyll A, some A and B, while other lines, A and C.
All algae primary comprise of the following, in varying proportions: Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats and Nucleic Acids.
Table 1 - Chemical Composition of Algae
Expressed on A Dry Matter Basis (%)
 |
Source: Becker, (1994) |
Algal-oil is very high in unsaturated fatty acids. Some UFA
- Arachidonic acid(AA)
- Eicospentaenoic acid(EPA)
- Docasahexaenoic acid(DHA)
- Gamma-linolenic acid(GLA)
- Linoleic acid(LA)
Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature’s way again
Algae are some of the most robust organisms on earth, able to grow in a wide range of conditions.
Algae are usually found in damp places or bodies of water and thus are common in terrestrial as well as aquatic environments. However, terrestrial algae are usually rather inconspicuous and far more common in moist, tropical regions than dry ones, because algae lack vascular tissues and other adaptions to live on land.
As mentioned above, algea grow in almost every habitat in every part of the world. The following are examples of non-marine habitats.
Algae are some of the most robust organisms on earth, able to grow in a wide range of conditions.
Algae are usually found in damp places or bodies of water and thus are common in terrestrial as well as aquatic environments. However, terrestrial algae are usually rather inconspicuous and far more common in moist, tropical regions than dry ones, because algae lack vascular tissues and other adaptions to live on land.
As mentioned above, algea grow in almost every habitat in every part of the world. The following are examples of non-marine habitats.
- Animals: Reported substrates include turtles, snails, rotifers, worms, crustacean, alligators, three-toed sloths, aquatic ferns, freshwater sponges and some other animals.
- Aquatic plants: Algae grow on and inside water plants (including other algae)
- Artificial substrates: Wooden posts and fences, cans and bottles etc. all provide algal habitats.
- Billabongs & lagoons: Rich microalgal habitats, particularly for desmids.
- Bogs, marshes & swamps
- Farm Dams
- Lakes
- Mud and sand
- Ponds (ephemeral), puddles, roadside ditches and rock pools
- Reservoirs
- Rivers
- Rock (internal & surface)
- Saline Lagoons
- Saline Lakes & Marshes
- Salt marshes and salt lakes
- Sewage (see Oilgae blog directory for articles on companies focused on sewage as a growth medium)
- Snow
- Soil
- Streams
- Terrestrial plants - tree trunks, branches, shady sides of trees, damp walls, surface of and inside leaves.
Source : OILGAE
See also:
Oilgae blog article - Diatoms under Millions of Years of Ice – hmm…Trying to figure out how the Arctic would have been millions of years ago, scientists dig up ice, and they find – algae! Hmm…these chaps happen to be in the most unlikeliest of places, don’t they!
Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature’s way again
Algae (singular alga) is a term that encompasses many different groups of living organisms. Algae have been traditionally regarded as simple plants, and some are closely related to the higher plants.
Forms of Algae
Algae range from small, single-celled organisms to multi-cellular organisms, some with fairly complex differentiated form. The giant kelps, also belonging to the algae species grow over 60 meters long!
- Chromista- this line includes the brown algae, golden brown algae, and diatoms. The plastids in these algae contain Chlorophylls A and C. ( see: Brief Introduction to the Phaeophyta, Brown Algae – from Wikipedia)
- The Red Line – this is an early branch of marine algae containing just Chlorophyll A. Red algae can often be seen coating wave washed rocks. A characteristic of red algae is that their plastids contain only one type of chlorophyll -- chlorophyll a. This is different from green algae and plants which have both chlorophyll a and b. (see: Introduction to the Rhodophyta, Red Alga – from Wikipedia)
- Dinoflagellates – these evolved on a separate line that includes, surprisingly, the ciliated protists. (see: Introduction to the Dinoflagellata from UMCP, Berkeley, Dinoflagellate Information – from MBARI, Dinoflagellate – from Wikipedia)
- The Euglenids – this independent line of single celled organisms that include both photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic species (see: Euglenid – from Wikipedia)
- The Green Line, is related to plants. Plants and green algae have chlophylls A and B. ( see also: Introduction to Green Algae)
The three most prominent lines of algae are the Brown Algae (Chromista), the red algae, and the Green algae of which some of the most complex forms are founds among the green algae. This lineage (green algae) eventually led to the higher land plants. The point where these non-algal plants begin and algae stop is usually taken to be the presence of reproductive organs with protective cell layers, a characteristic not found in the other alga groups.
Algea are an extremely important species. For one, they produce more oxygen than all the plants in the world, put together! For another, they form an important food source for many animals such as little shrimps and huge whales. Thus, they are at the bottom of the food chain with many living things depending upon them.
With the recent research and interest into using algae for producing biodiesel, they have the potential to become even more important.
Source : OILGAE
See also:
- Algaculture – from Wikipedia
- Lots of Algae Related Links – from University of Arizona Algae Class
- Algae Research – from the Smithsonian Institution
- AlgaeBase – Listing the World’s Algae
- Algae Description & Types
- Algae – from NatureGrid, UK – Nice Explanations
- See a Picture of Algae
- Smithsonian Institution Project on Algae
- Australian Freshwater Algae - identification keys & pictures
- Hustedt Diatom Collection, Alfred Wegner Institute,
- Seaweed Site – with macro and microalgal information
- The World of Algae @ the Botany Department of
- Diatoms Info from
- Key to identifying freshwater Diatoms (P. Compere)
- Introduction to Cyanobacteria
- Toxic Cyanobacteria
- Cyanosite @
- Red Tide & Harmful Algal Blooms - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- Volvocales Information Project (VIP) -
Japan – Test flight completed
Posted by Labels: Algae, bio-fuels, camelina, jet fuel, kerosene-based
Japan Airlines Corp on Friday test flew a Boeing 747-300 jet powered with environmentally-friendly bio-fuel from Tokyo, in the first test of its kind among Asian airlines, Dow Jones reports.
One of the jumbo jet's four Pratt & Whitney engines was powered by a blend of conventional kerosene-based jet fuel and a Boeing Co developed bio-fuel, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions in flights.
The bio-fuel is derived mainly from the flowering plant camelina, which is inedible, making it less likely that its jet fuel application would affect the world food market. Flight Global adds that JAL said its blend was 50% bio-fuel and 50% jet kerosene and of the bio-fuel component, camelina made up 84%, jatropha 16% and algae less than 1%.
JAL’s group president and CEO said that when bio-fuels are produced in sufficient amounts to make them commercially viable, ‘we hope to be one of the first airlines in the world to power aircraft using bio-fuels.’ (30 January 2009)
Bio-diesel - an effective renewable alternative fuel to petro-diesel:
Posted by Labels: Algae, alternative fuels, bio-diesel, biodegradable, environment freindly, jatropha, palm, renewable energy source, soyabeenBio-diesel is an effective renewable alternative fuel to petro-diesel:
Bio-diesel is a renewable alternative fuel generally used in place of petro-diesel in the engines. It is a fuel made from various vegetable oils, vegetable and animal fats etc. Bio-diesel fuels can be used in diesel engines without changing them. It is the fastest growing alternative fuel in many countries. Bio-diesel, a renewable fuel, is safe, biodegradable, and reduces the emissions of most air pollutants.
Most bio-diesel today is made from oil produced from soybean, palm and jatropha seeds. Bio-diesel is most often blended with petroleum diesel in ratios ranging from 2 percent to 20 percent. It can also be used as pure bio-diesel Bio-diesel fuels can be used in regular diesel vehicles without making any changes to the engines. It can also be stored and transported using diesel tanks and equipment.
Bio-diesel and the environment:
(i) Bio-diesel is renewable, nontoxic, and biodegradable. Compared to diesel, bio-diesel is significantly cleaner burning. It produces fewer air pollutants, like particulates, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and air toxics. It does slightly increase emissions of nitrogen oxides, though. Bio-diesel produces less black smoke.
(ii) Regular petro-diesel fuel contains sulfur. Sulfur can cause damage to the environment when it is burned in fuels. New environmental laws will require the amount of sulfur in diesel fuel to be dramatically reduced over the next few years. When sulfur is removed from regular diesel fuel, the fuel doesn't work as well. Adding a small amount of bio-diesel can fix the problem. Bio-diesel has no sulfur, so it can reduce sulfur levels in the nation's diesel fuel supply while making engines run more smoothly.
(iii) Bio-diesel has a higher cetane rating than petro-diesel, which can improve performance and clean up emissions compared to crude petro-diesel.
(iv) Bio-diesel can reduce by as much as 20% the direct (tailpipe) emission of particulates, compared to low-sulfur diesel.
(v) Bio-diesel is biodegradable under ideal conditions and non-toxic.
| BIO-DIESEL FROM ALGAE While a number of bio-feedstock is currently being experimented for bio-diesel production, algae have emerged as one of the most promising sources for bio-diesel production. The current oil crises and fast depleting fossil oil reserves have made it imperative to invest more into research on suitable renewable feedstock such as algae. It is widely believed that, petroleum had its origins in kerogen, which was converted to an oily substance under conditions of high pressure and temperature. Kerogen is formed from algae, biodegraded organic compounds of plankton, bacteria and plant materials. Several studies have been conducted to simulate petroleum formation by pyrolysis. On the basis of these findings, it can be inferred that algae grown in carbon dioxide rich air can be converted to oily substances. Such an approach can contribute to solving two major problems: (a) air pollution resulting from carbon dioxide evolution, (b) future crises due to a shortage of energy sources. Therefore, it is believed that, algae are one of the most promising feedstocks for future bio-diesel production. The advantegeous points about algae are their widespread availability, higher oil yields and pressure on cultivated land for production of bio-diesel is reduced. |
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