ALGAE: FUTURE FUEL

Is this the big breakthrough in biofuel? While corn produces 20 gallons of ethanol/acre, algae produces 15,000 gallons of biofuel/acre, requires no special climate, grows with any kind of water including ocean water and can be fed on CO2 emissions and other noxious pollutants.

But here’s the one and most important quality algae-generated biofuel offers that no other biofuel does: The algals can be refined just like petroleum hydrocarbons to produce high-octane jet fuel. No other biofuel has that potential. With algae-generated biofuels, the US could keep flying jet bombers at its enemies whether it had oil flowing in from the Middle East or not. Therefore, despite the $20/gallon present cost, expect money to keep going to algae research.

Algae Emerges as a Potential Fuel Source
December 2, 2007 (AP via NY Times)

WHO
The Department of Energy (DOE)’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) (George Douglas, spokesman) and Chevron; the Depratment of Defense (DoD)’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with Honeywell subsidiary UOP (Jennifer Holmgren, director, renewable fuels unit), GE Energy and the University of North Dakota (UND); the University of Minnesota (UMinn) (Roger Ruan, lab director)

WHAT
Research resources are being directed at developing the great potential of algae-generated biofuel.

Algal-based hydrocarbons are as versatile as petro-hydrocarbons. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- Stopped a decade ago when oil prices dropped, money has been flowing to research on algae-generated biofuel in the last 2 years and especially since petro-fuel prices began rising sharply this year.
- Ruan thinks demonstration plants are a few years away.

WHERE
This article described research at DOE’s NREL, DARPA-funded UOP and UND projects and an independent project at UMinn.

WHY
- Algae are something like 50% oil and the oil is a hydrocarbon as malleable through refining as petroleum hydrocarbons, far more so than any other plant-based product.
- Researchers see the potential to reduce algae-derived biofuels’ cost from its present $20/gallon cost to $2/gallon.
- Reducing the cost requires choosing prolific strains of algae and extracting the oil more efficiently. But the specifics are unknown because only lab projects exist.
- While corn produces 20 gallons of ethanol/acre, algae produces 15,000 gallons of biofuel/acre.
- Farms require no special climate, can be nutured with any water including seawater and can be fed on CO2 emissions and other noxious pollutants.

Artist's rendering of a field of algae-generated biofuel, 15,000 gallons to the acre. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Jennifer Holmgren, UOP: “If you can get algae oils down below $2 a gallon, then you’ll be where you need to be…And there’s a lot of people who think you can.”
- George Douglas, NREL: “It’s not backyard inventors at this point at all…It’s folks with experience to move it forward.”