How to Replace Oil

Just in case anyone doesn't realize this, algae-derived fuels are CO2 neutral. You can only release CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere in the first place, in order to grow the algae.

In fact, large algae blooms in the deep ocean can be used for CO2 sequestration. The algae absorbs the CO2 to grow, dies, and sinks into the deep ocean where it is preserved in the cold water at high pressure, trapping the CO2 forever; for all practical purposes. Companies are planning to do this to get CO2 credits for CO2 releases at their land-based facilities.

In a few million years, it will then be someone's [petroleum] crude oil.

 

What does algae need to grow? It needs all the things released when you burn the fuel it produces. Algae could be used as a primary fuel source for electrical generating plants. The exhaust gases from that plant are then fed directly into the algae fields in a closed system. In principle this can run perpetually with all the water and nutrients being returned from the burners at the generating station. You are really producing electricity using solar power, and algae as the carrier.

It is an emissions-free, biological solar-power plant.

With the price of photo-voltaic solar dropping like a rock, this probably doesn't make sense to do. But we will see.

 

Oh yes, except, algae solar electricity has the ability to store energy. This is the Achilles heal of solar power - when the sun goes down the power stops. Algae-solar solves that problem.

The energy is stored in the form of algae growth - hence, fuel.

 

Libs should put their actions where their mouths are.

 

So we should crash the economy to make you happy?

Yea...that's "conservative" thinking

 

There are probably thousands of different strains of algae, each with different rates of growth, different percentages of fuel per unit dry mass of algae, and different types of oils, sugar, or tendency to produce one or the other, or both. Some algae oils can undergo transesterification [a low-energy process] and converted to a high-quality diesel fuel. Others cannot be tranesterified but can be burned directly in some types of engines. For example, raw algae oil mixed with jatropha and other oils was burned in the 737 test flight, and performed exceedingly well. Biodiesel got a bad rap in the early years but that was often due to confusion. Vegetable oil is not biodiesel. But it was often sold as such. Biodiesel can be made from vegetable oil [and animal fats] through the chemical process of transesterification.

Some algae oils are high in glycerin, can be converted to biodiesel, have a relatively high energy density, but tend to create relatively more pollution than other oils that are have lower energy densities. Some strains of algae have as much as 80% oil [relative to dry mass weight] but grow slowly. Other strains can double in mass every few hours on a sunny day but produce far less oil per unit mass. Nutrient requirements, temperatures, light conditions, yields, efficiency for processing, and much more can all be factors for algae selection. And very little is known about algae except for a few dozen strains.

It is highly complex with much work to be done. But we know the numbers are there. It is only a matter of making algae fuels price competitive at the pump. That is the holy grail and it gets closer every day. If the price of fuel had not dropped by 50% in recent years, some algae-derived fuels might be competitive now.

Once the oils have been removed from mature algae, the remaining biomass makes a high-quality feed for livestock.

 

See, all of this, from my perspective, is much more worthy of funding, over say any immediate plans for Mars colonization.

EDIT:

Not just taxpayer funds... If any I guess... But encouraging private industry to continue R&D, & production.

 

Hell, perhaps Mars Research & robotic exploration could see some of these algae be SuperSized & used not only to help build an atmosphere on Mars in the distant future, but be a sort of global international fuel farm near term.

 

Indeed, that is partly why I was despondent over recent events. We are so close to a solution that we can taste it. But the price of fuel is the whole ball game. No one is going to pay $6 a gallon when there is another option for fuel for $3 a gallon. We could be free from oil entirely for the price of a trip to Mars.

Algae oils can also be used to produce plastics and other chemicals, just as can petroleum derivatives. In fact, this is where the smart money goes for now - the chemical derivatives from algae oils. There is big money in this.

 

Better living through Chemistry.

 

http://www.ecology.com/2011/09/12/important-organism/

 

There are good plants for making ethanol. Corn is not one of them. Algae has some promising applications. Electrics are still trying to find their place.

Right now, however, none of them are cheaper than oil. So they won't replace it any time soon.

 

In this case, "soon" is a function of money and will. Give me a Manhattan Project Budget and I will change the world in 10 years. Okay not me but a lot of people who are smarter than me will. But alas, they are all a bunch of snowflake lib-*****.

Algae fuels have been reduced to a complex set of engineering problems. Science might give us better strains but the core of the remaining work to be price competitive, are just engineering problems. This is no longer theoretical. In fact it hasn't been since the first study of this beginning in the 70s.

Incidentally, we have Jimmy Carter and the Department of Energy to thank for this.

 

This is fairly current. There is a wealth of information out there. Just beware of the do-it-yourselfer's claims and stick with the scientists. There are crackpot claims about algae just like anything else. This is highly complex and requires experts from many fields of study.
https://energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/algal-biofuels

This is the original study - The Aquatic Species Program

http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24190.pdf

 

I developed an idea for green transportation.

It combines a bio diesel engine and a liposuction machine, and it saves the world from fatties at the same time.

Yes, I know. I'm a genius.

 

All diesel engines are biodiesel engines.

Biodiesel is completely interchangeable with regular diesel.

In fact, this makes an important point. We could convert the world to algae-derived fuels without any significant changes to the energy infrastructure beyond the production of the algae oils. From there it can be treated almost identically to petroleum. No other options offer this seamless transition to a renewable resource.

 

In your study what is the energy value of floating invasive aquatic plants? I've often wondered that. In Florida we have many water filter farms that grow this stuff and are capable of growing many other types (like hyacinths) and more and more water farms are being slated to open every year. What's the energy value and costs (like combining)? I'm of the opinion this stuff could be of use to fire utility energy.

 

One of the reasons algae is so efficient is that it is very simple. We are talking about micro algae, not the stuff you see as lumps on a pond. Micro algae only do a few things - they use solar energy, NPK, carbon, oxygen and other nutrients to build the cell wall, and make fat [lipids] or sugar. A key area of research involves a "biological switch" that selects between the production of sugar, or the production of fatty oil. If strains can be forced to nearly 100% sugar production, it is hard to imagine that any other plant could be more energy efficient in the production of sugar. Beyond that, because algae is grown in water, harvesting can be achieved with far greater efficiency by using flowing water instead of tractors or other harvesting equipment. I don't know the current best case for algae-ethanol. The focus has been on biodiesel because many strains of algae were known to have high lipid contents. But sugar can account for as as much of the mass as fatty oil in known strains. So both biodiesel and ethanol can be made from the same harvest.

 

I understand there are a mess of hurdles that have to be figured out and jumped but the potential is quite large.

 

The problem of making a price-competitive fuel requires hybrid strains of algae grown under highly controlled conditions. However, I have heard of biomass being harvested and burned for power production. I believe they were playing with this in Italy. It wouldn't be worth trying to extract oils or sugar [generally] but the biomass itself may have enough energy to be worth harvesting. This would have to be considered on a case by case basis. It depends on the plant.

 

It's a bitch! As one expert put it quite correctly, it is like trying to get Kool-Aid back out of water.

But as I said, the advances have been fast and furious considering that everyone has been operating on a shoestring budget.

 

No, you cannot be "free of oil."

You just don't understand the nature of petro-chemicals, and you're so focused on bio-fuel that you can't see the trees in the forest.

Show us how algae produces Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl-benzene and Xylene. What about Neodols? Neodol is an organic alcohol that come in various forms like Neodol-1, Neodol-25, Neodol-65, Neodol-91 etc.

Again, you have 46 operating oil refineries in the US, but only 16 produce gasoline. The rest -- the remaining 30 refineries -- produce your Life-Style.

 

Hardly, coal can be liquefied and refined in to Diesel. Any combustion engine can be converted to run on NG for less that $1500 in less than a few hours too. As for biodiesel, any organic will achieve the same result at algae, also most combustion devices will run efficiently on alcohol which is also renewable.

I SUPPOSE I'm missing the point of this thread *Shrugs*

 

Oh sure, no doubt about it, but the one thing it cant do is help with Americas obesity problem.

That's where my plan excels.

Fatties get to eat dough nuts and big macs, while fueling their cars at the same time.

Its what we call a WIN-WIN.