It seems that the future of our clean water, energy, and fuel can all come from algae. Indeed, algae can produce good products as an alternative to oil. Indeed, more research has gone into using algae as a fuel source and it looks more promising than ever.

Read about at Physorg.

“We’re looking at microscopic marine algae that produce fatty acids and do not have a cell wall. We plan to genetically modify the algae so that they will continuously produce these fatty acids, which we can then continually harvest,” Roberts says. “We also plan to genetically modify the algae to produce fatty acids of a specific length, to expedite the conversion of the fatty acids into fuels that can be used by our existing transportation infrastructure.” Specifically, Roberts says, “the goal is to create fuels that can be used in place of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel – though jet fuel will be the most technically challenging.” In other words, they hope to make fuels that are 100 percent compatible with the existing fuels’ storage and distribution system and run in existing vehicles – no modifications necessary.

And, Roberts stresses, “it has to be cost-competitive, or none of this makes sense. It’s easy to be cost-competitive when oil is at $300 a barrel, but it’s harder when the price of oil drops. Our goal is to optimize this technology so that it is cost-competitive, renewable, can be produced domestically and is environmentally friendly.”

Algae-based biofuels come closest to Joule’s technology, with potential yields of 2,000 to 6,000 gallons per acre; yet even so, the new process would represent an order of magnitude improvement. What’s more, for the best current algae fuels technologies to be competitive with fossil fuels, crude oil would have to cost over $800 a barrel says Philip Pienkos, a researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO. Joule claims that its process will be competitive with crude oil at $50 a barrel. In recent weeks, oil has sold for $60 to $70 a barrel.

Joule’s process seems very similar to approaches that make biofuels using algae, although the company says it is not using algae. The company’s microorganisms can be grown inside transparent reactors, where they’re circulated to ensure that they all get exposed to sunlight, and they are fed concentrated carbon dioxide–which can come from a power plant, for example–and other nutrients. (The company’s bioreactor is a flat panel with an area about the size of a sheet of plywood.) While algae typically produce oils that have to be refined into fuels, Joule’s microorganisms produce fuel directly–either ethanol or hydrocarbons. And while oil is harvested from algae by collecting and processing the organisms, Joule’s organisms excrete the fuel continuously, which could make harvesting the fuel cheaper.

The test by Houston-based Continental, the fourth-largest U.S. airline, is a step toward the International Air Transport Association’s goal of having member carriers use 10 percent alternative fuels by 2017 to reduce global warming. The European Union will cap airline carbon-dioxide emissions beginning in 2012.

“We’re watching as different countries set carbon-reduction targets,” Leah Raney, Continental’s managing director of global environmental affairs, said in an interview. “We have been working very diligently to reduce our carbon footprint over the last 10 years.”

Aviation accounts for about 2 percent of global CO2 emissions, IATA estimates. More-fuel-efficient planes have helped Continental trim its output of heat-trapping gases 35 percent, Raney said.

Fuel of Future

U.S. carriers are testing alternative fuels after prices for traditional jet kerosene, which is derived from crude oil, surged to a record $4.36 a gallon in July. Jet-fuel prices have since collapsed about 60 percent amid a deepening recession.

“This demonstration flight represents another step in Continental’s ongoing commitment to fuel efficiency and environmental responsibility,” Chief Executive Officer Larry Kellner said in a statement. “The technical knowledge we gain today will contribute to a wider understanding of the future for transportation fuels.”

Dark Fermentation
Most scientists believe photosynthesis is the key to algae oil. Solazyme sees it as the problem. Algae can convert sunlight into chemical energy, but not nearly as efficiently as other materials–industrial wastes, switchgrass, low-grade molasses–can. So Solazyme designed a process that lets algae feed in the dark on input biomass rather than sunlight, cutting down the conversion process from weeks to days. The company’s end-product diesels meet the same standards as nonalgal diesels, and it expects their price to be on par in two to three years. Until then, the company, which signed a development agreement with Chevron this year, will continue to clock miles in its algae-powered cars, standard vehicles purchased straight off the lot.

Dr Leesing is confident that the algae can be effectively farmed for industrial biodiesel production as early as next April. She was also keen to stress that a KKU-S2 facility would not require much space. Quoting statistics from the US, she estimated that up to 136,900 litres of oil per hectare could be produced from the small green algae, compared with only 172 litres from corn.

The discovery is likely to prove of interest to producers looking for alternatives to biodiesel produced from food-based sources such as corn or soy, which have been criticised for their contribution to global food shortages, as well their negative impact on local biodiversity.

algae

There has been a lot of interest into using algae as a fuel before, and recently we on Things Are Good we saw that algae can be used for nearly any engine. The aviation industry is no different when it comes to celebrating algae as they are looking into mixing kerosene with algae.

According to the ASU researchers, their kerosene provides a competitive advantage because it eliminates an expensive thermal cracking process which is necessary for traditional kerosene production.

The new algae kerosene fuel is compatible with jet planes when mixed with a small amount of fuel additives.

And with the increasing speed of new developments in algae fuel, we may all be driving around in algae-powered cars and flying algae-powered planes within the next few decades.

Algae is freaking awesome! Here’s more information on the goo of goodness: it can be used as fuel for nearly any engine.

I’m utterly convinced that if we heavily funded algae research we could create amazing fuels, clean the air, and basically save the world.

ome oils created by algae might be appropriate for fueling a motor vehicle; another might be more suited for home heating oil; and yet another might be the right type to power an airplane. While we’re at it, some algae oils might also provide useful for other products, in the same vein that omega 3 fatty acids make fish such a popular and healthy product.

In fact algae’s are quickly turning into the star of the biofuel world. It does not require masses of farmland to produce, and can use wastewater instead of diverting freshwater. And with fuel prices skyrocketing, water availability a real and present issue, and the loss of farmland for these products a concern, algae comes out on top in all categories.

And though it could take 10 to 25 years before algae-based biofuel is readily available to the public, the possibilities are huge. Erick Rabins, vice president of Allied Minds, based in Quincy, Mass, and interim manager of the startup company between Allied Minds and UW, says that “The most optimistic assessment that I’ve heard is that it could be six to eight years before there’s something that’s useable, but the tools and techniques to make it possible are being created right now.”

Algae, the best goo on the planet, continues to capture the minds of people who want to transition away from oil. Entering the fray recently is a company from San Diego that promises to make algae a replacement for diesel.

A San Diego company said Wednesday that it could turn algae into oil, producing a green-colored crude yielding ultra-clean versions of gasoline and diesel without the downsides of biofuel production.

The year-old company, called Sapphire Energy, uses algae, sunlight, carbon dioxide and non-potable water to make “green crude” that it contends is chemically equivalent to the light, sweet crude oil that has been fetching more than $130 a barrel in New York futures trading.

Chief Executive Jason Pyle said that the company’s green crude could be processed in existing oil refineries and that the resulting fuels could power existing cars and trucks just as today’s more polluting versions of gasoline and diesel do.

“What we’re talking about is something that is radically different,” Pyle said. “We really look at this as a paradigm change.”