algae oil

[mapsrg]

Research is under way to start a new industry...oil from algae.Companies like Vertigro are on the cutting edge of tech. development to replace our dependency on imported oil and this tech also may be used to supply nutrients for fertiliser/vitamins etc....Some species of algae are over 50% oil.Unlike ethanol from corn/sugarbeets/sugarcane algae will not take out food producting land to supply energy needs.

[ChileanOne]

Research is under way to start a new industry...oil from algae.Companies like Vertigro are on the cutting edge of tech. development to replace our dependency on imported oil and this tech also may be used to supply nutrients for fertiliser/vitamins etc....Some species of algae are over 50% oil.Unlike ethanol from corn/sugarbeets/sugarcane algae will not take out food producting land to supply energy needs.

Hello Mapsrg:

I am personally involved as professional and entrepreneur in the development of Biodiesel from algae. I can tell you that is completely feasible in the technical side, there's no doubt at all in that respect. Thr problem is making it economically feasible, this means, competitive with fossil fuels.

By now, the industrial scale cost of each kilogram of microalgae biomass costs, in the very best case known (that only has a 16% of oil in it) US$5/kg. You need 6 kilograms of this algae to make one liter of biodiesel, plus the cost of making the biodiesel itself.

I our case, our algae with a 26% of oil, costs around US$9/kg to produce (I'm talking industrial scale, 1000 square meter ponds, over 100 hectares of land). 

We are of course not selling biofuels by now, but highly priced by products we obtain from our algae and keep us profitable. We are working towards biodiesel in the future, but the amout of investment required to lower the operational costs that might eventually make algae biodiesel competitive with fossil oil, is in the range of the billions of dollars, so, any company that pretends to do so in the short term will require heavy financial support, which is non available for such high risk endeavours.

I see realy competitive algae biodiesel in no less than 20 years. We will see commercial biodiesel in 5 years from now, but only if heavily supported by quotas and subsides, and will still be a low profit biz.

Just my two cents.

[tulook]

Move over biodiesel and watch out ethanol, there's a new biofuel on the block. California-based Sapphire Energy has announced that it has created a process that nets ASTM certified 91-octane gasoline from little more than algae, sunlight and waste water.

While several other companies produce bio-fuel in a similar fashion, Sapphire's process is a unique technique that produces a uniform product that can be used in gasoline engines without any modifications. Sapphire stresses that their fuel is not ethanol or biodiesel.
According to EcoGeek.org, the company launched a year ago and set off to answer one nagging question: "Why is the biofuel industry spending so much time and energy to manufacture ethanol ? a fundamentally inferior fuel?"
Unlike the production of ethanol, Sapphire's production process doesn't use land for fuel crop instead of food crop and virtually eliminates any emissions in the creation process. The end product is a green liquid that is virtually identical to gasoline.
And just to silence any naysayers, Brian Goodall ? an employee of Sapphire Energy ? just completed a cross-Atlantic flight in a plane powered by the company's biofuel.
Analysts have been wary about the commercial future of 'Green Crude', but a couple of landmark deals could be changing that outlook. Sapphire just landed a $50 million backing from three venture capitalists and GreenFuel Technologies ? a similar company ? will be setting up a multi-million dollar facility in Europe.
With companies like General Motors investing millions in ethanol companies, we wonder how long it will take before automakers jump on the algae-derived gasoline bandwagon.

http://sapphireenergy.com/
http://www.greencrudeproduction.com/

[tulook]

The future looks green There is another choice to using food crop as fuel. As American's we all know that ethanol is worthless as fuel, However there is a light at the end of this tunnel, for this technology, is viable, 91 octane and could end the gun to America's head that has plagued us for over half a century FOREIGN OIL DEPENDENCE while also providing the added bonus of putting a dent in the terrorist pocketbook. While it's compatible with existing technology, development and implementation is a few still years away, it is possibility our best bet to have our gas and burn it too. Cost is in millions, not Billions as some have said and we are more than halfway there.

http://sapphireenergy.com/
http://www.greencrudeproduction.com/

[triffid]

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