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You wouldn’t guess that a bit of green slime could do so much. But from from food to fuel, PetroAlgae, Inc. seems to have thought of everything. This Florida-based renewable energy company has developed a technology in which algae and other microorganisms produce fuel to feed cars, animals, and even humans...and say they can do it cheaper than anyone else.
With the addition of a few basic nutrients, algae gather most of their energy from the sun. The result is a protein and carbohydrate-rich slime that can be converted to a variety of products. First, the protein is extracted and processed into animal feed or blended into human food products. PetroAlgae actually lists one of its products as “meal replacer”, conjuring images of our new utopian future in which chewing is obsolete.
After the protein extraction, what remains is a “lipid-carbohydrate mash”. PetroAlgae claims that this material can be sent directly to a petroleum refinery and processed into diesel, gas, or jet fuel without the need to retro-fit any of the refinery’s conventional equipment. Algae cultivation requires very little square-footage relative to conventional crops, can be grown on non-arable land, and consumes up to twice its weight in carbon dioxide as it grows.
In addition to algae, PetroAlgae draws from a large pool of microorganisms including diatoms, cyanobacteria, and micro-angiosperms (tiny flowering plants). While exact species remain unnamed, the company conscientiously notes that they use only species indigenous to the region in which a production facility will be installed. They have already begun licensing their technology to commercial facilities in Asia, and are poised to complete contracts with the U.S. and several European countries this year. Each licensee is promised the potential to produce 1.5 million barrels of transportation fuel per year, or the equivalent of 1.4 billion miles for a single truck. If PetroAlgae’s assertions hold true, the cost of fuel production is essentially paid for by the revenue from food and feed products, meaning that their microbe-derived fuels will remain competitive with fossil fuels, at any price.
PetroAlgae is in the business of licensing its technology rather than building the algae plants itself. It already has deals with algae farms in India and China and is currently working on deals in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Via BioFuels Digest
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written by Kieran, July 14, 2009
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written by Fred, July 14, 2009
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written by Christopher Reeve, July 14, 2009
A couple of the negatives: this is GMO stuff that your average paddy field farmer would not be allowed to grow in case it gets into the wild and PetroAlgea would have to sue you for accidentally growing it in your garden pond. Then there is the infrastructure of creating all these pools. If not placed on farmland where will they go? In deserts? Where is all the water going to come from then?
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written by OakleighVermont solargroupies, July 14, 2009
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written by JBCIII, July 14, 2009
when we burn hydrocarbons (anything that was living) it produces the greenhouse gases
Yes, true...but the carbon that is burned in this
case was pulled from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It's not the same situation as burning carbon from fossil fuels. Using biofuels can be sustainable potentially.
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written by Murphy, July 14, 2009
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This is the same thinking that assumes hydogen is a clean fuel because burning it produces only water. It neglects the fact that energy must be used to create hydrogen (hydrogen is typicaly derrived from nautral gas, a fossil fuel).
Bio fuels reduce emissions *if* the engergy inputs to create the fuel are less than the energy obtained from the fuel. This includes cultivation and fuel processing / refinement. This is why ethanol is not as good as it sometimes seems, because it is so energy intensive to produce.
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written by Sean, July 14, 2009
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written by Andrew, July 15, 2009
I truly want to believe in algae fuel, but I've read a lot of things that have led me to believe that the technical hurdles are pretty formidable right now...
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written by dogfaced boy, July 15, 2009
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written by Sri Sadika, July 16, 2009
I understand the commenter above who is nervous about the real world possibilities, but these technologies are very new. Given a few more years of development, and another oil price spike (remember peak oil?) and this could be the beginning of a game changer.
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written by frank, July 16, 2009
-good lyrics by jack johnson
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written by Soft Serve Ice Cream, Icecream Maker, July 21, 2009
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written by Alberto Gratacos, July 21, 2009
2) There are very productive and very common species of microalgae that can be used.The only reason to genetically manipulate them would be to patent them. But altering these incredibly resilient creatures is dangerous (scifi-like dangerous).
3)You can grow microalgae in land that is useless for anything else. You can use sea water.
4)Algae oil can replace some commercial fuel with little processing, and with 0 sulfur content. Also, it burns 70% cleaner.
5)If we started using diesel cars (more efficient than gasoline cars because diesel burns 100% of its fuel) running on biodiesel, we could use all the existing infrastructures from gas stations, car manufacturing, power plants, etc.
- Downside?? or rather: Other Alternatives?
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written by italian grease, July 22, 2009
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written by Elana, July 22, 2009
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written by Sally G, July 26, 2009
That said, I have been an interested (if casual) observer of algae-based energy for some time. Boeing (and I believe Virgin Airlines) is doing some research; the PetroAlgae site mentions using local algae, minimizing the risk of introducing invasive plant species into an area and did not mention genetic modification (though it would not be something they would want to highlight, and they did refer to "licensing", which could be a code word for a patented GMO).
Vdertigro uses an enclosed, indoor system and refers to using different species of algae to produce different products: diesel, jet fuel, etc.
It looks like we're at the start of a new technology with great potential—I'll continue watching with interest.
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written by dinnerware, November 02, 2009
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good work.