Carter-Era research finally comes good as algae biodiesel gets a push
Over the past couple of years, algae has been gaining a lot of attention as a potentially high-yield source of biodiesel fuel. As the controversy over food vs. fuel and water use grows for corn ethanol, researchers have been trying to find alternatives that don't require arable land and more energy to produce than they yield. Algae is looking like one of the best prospects with yields per acre of up to 100 times what can be achieved from soy and other crops. It turns out that algae as a fuel source actually has a history going back three decades to the Carter administration. In between the first and second oil shocks of the 1970s, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory began the Aquatic Species Program to research different species of algae that could be cultivated and harvested for producing fuels. As oil prices settled back down in the late 1980s, a lot of the work was scaled back but the data was still available for researchers. During the current decade, as the environment and the security of energy supplies became a greater concern, researchers have latched onto algae once again. Companies like Solazyme and International Energy are now working aggressively to commercialize algae biodiesel. Green Fuels Forecast has a great summary of the history of algae over the last three decades and where it stands today.
[Source: Green Fuels Forecast]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Cervus 1:18PM (3/27/2008)
Best news I've read all week.
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StockDad 2:38PM (3/27/2008)
Yup, keep the cost of a barrel of oil over $100 and this stuff will save our friggin planet.
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Bob Moffitt (Bob from ALAMN) 4:24PM (3/27/2008)
I first heard this story at the National Biodiesel Converence in Orlando. Thanks to the Internet, this old data was saved and made widely available -- free of charge. It took years off the research needed to restart from scratch.
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Mike Z 6:30PM (3/27/2008)
I looked quite a bit into Algae based biofuels; however, from what I can tell the initial gov't research was not sufficient to develop an economic case for algae fuels.
Also, as I started to research work done into Algae fuels I noticed a distinct trend: Groups would announce they were starting a research effort into the technology, and then nothing else would be heard again. Me thinks the issues of photobioreactors is not as easy as it sounds.
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Cervus 7:21PM (3/27/2008)
Mike:
I fully expect a couple dozen companies to try and fail at this. I hope that one of them--Solazyme, GreenFuel, PetroSun--to find a process that works economically. Solazyme has a vehicle on the road using their fuel, and PetroSun has announced that they'll start production in several locations this year.
But, yes, most of them will sink without a trace. But it only has to work once.
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Ron Fischer 9:40PM (3/27/2008)
There were several discussions of algal oil production at "The Oil Drum" web site. The conclusion there was that its a much harder problem than it seems.
First, the algal cultures are easily contaminated and overwhelmed by local species. Its impossible to create a sterile growth environment cost-effectively. Second, the cost of materials to build and maintain the containment (e.g. replace photobioreactor tubes), pushes production cost too high. E.g. calculate the cost of miles of plastic tubes and machines and replacing them once a year. This is not to say it can't be done, just that very serious practioners, significant resources and "real" breakthroughs will be needed.
Like corn ethanol, this one sounds like a softball at first, but as you dig in, a hard problem is uncovered.
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Mike Z 9:49PM (3/27/2008)
I would like to believe that is has a chance, I was really excited about it at a time too (I even considered trying to make algae biofuel myself) but from what I've researched I'm of the opinion that in all likelihood it is a technology that just isn't meant to be. If anything, the Carter-era study have false hope to a technology, that in practice has very high obstacles to overcome.
The fact that Greenfuels has not made a updated their website in 6 months, or that Petrosun is still traded OTC, or that Khosla Ventures is not investing in Algae companies speaks volumes to me.
I would love to be proved wrong in a big way, but I find the likelihood of large scale production of oil from algae to be very low on the list of possible future sources of energy. It is simply a lot harder to produce it in a commercially viable way than most people think.
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Noah 9:31AM (3/28/2008)
I didn't read to see if anyone else posted about this, but this algae biodiesel would be very helpful in the US if used for truckers, amirite? Not a lot of passenger diesel cars or trucks, but we gots lots of tractor-trailerss.
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