Will algae beat its competitors to become the king source of biofuels?
Wed, Aug 29, 2007
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As you may have read recently, the use of palm oil for the production of biofuels has come under criticism for bad farming practices in Indonesia, endangering orangutans and destroying ecosystems. Now an Arizona company claims they’ve developed a better and cheaper way to manufacture biofuel – using algae.
The company, Diversified Energy Corporation, has developed a “breakthrough algae production system”, called Simgae, for simple algae. Using common agriculture components to produce algae, the system is substantially cheaper than other biofuel production systems, at $0.08 - $0.12 per pound. The algae produces oils and starches which can then be used for the production of biodiesel and ethanol.
The use of algae for biofuels has received attention recently as a promising source of biofuel oils, in contrast with the high prices of traditional sources. It has been shown to require 1/100th of the water per acre compared to other crops, and the carbohydrate and protein elements can be used for other purposes including feed and fertiliser. It is low maintenance and its ability to ingest carbon dioxide and excrete oxygen is attractive because it reduces carbon emissions.
However, the main obstacle preventing widespread mass production of algae for biofuel production has been the equipment and structures needed to begin growing algae in large quantities. Diversified Energy Corp have avoided this problem by taking a different approach, and growing the algae in thin walled polyethylene tubing called Algae Biotape(R), similar to conventional drip irrigation tubing, which can be incorporated into a normal agricultural environment.
The Vice President of Business Development for Diversified Energy, Jeff Hassannia, commented, “The renewable fuels industry is in dire need of feedstock oils that are low priced and readily available. Algae is the perfect solution to this challenge, while at the same time helping to clean up the environment. Simgae will finally offer a simple, yet elegant means of bringing algae to the market at very reasonable costs.”
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nofi.org» Blog Archive » links for 2007-08-30 Says:
August 30th, 2007 at 10:17 pm[...] Environmentalgraffiti.com » Will algae beat its competitors to become the king source of biofuels? Diversified Energy Corporation has developed a “breakthrough algae production system”, called Simgae, for simple algae. (tags: biofuels green algae microbes energy) [...]
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Algae - potential fuel | Pkchukiss - Reality Wine Says:
August 31st, 2007 at 4:17 am[...] EnvironmentalGraffiti reports that a company has come up with a system of growing algae with simple agricultural components. The mucky stuff naturally produces oils and starches, which are then processed into biofuel for us humans to burn in our petrol guzzlers. As a side effect, since these stuff actually photosynthesise (take in carbon dioxide and sunlight to create the starches), it also helps to mitigate all that carbon dioxide that’s contributing to global warming right now. [...]
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Algae to become the king source of biofuel « Environment News Says:
October 9th, 2007 at 4:36 pm[...] read more | digg story [...]
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August 30th, 2007 at 12:08 am
You should link to your sources. Fortunately, I found it here (pdf): http://www.diversified-energy.com/auxfiles/pressReleases/SimgaeSystem.pdf
August 30th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
There’s another angle on this back here in Virginia - growing the algae on sewage effluent. You clean the water and the Chesapeake Bay, the process apparently requires bubbling exhaust gas through the effluent (CO2), and get biodiesel in the end. Its a way off, but the sate is funding Old Dominion University to do the work - pretty cool - news story at
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=127642&ran=7287
April 15th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Though research into algae oil as a source for biodiesel is not new, the current oil crises and fast depleting fossil oil reserves have made it more imperative for organizations and countries to invest more time and efforts into research on finding suitable alternatives.
Though critics worry about the availability of CO2 that is essential for starting the process and the other negative impact of production, preliminary research has proved that algae could be the perfect alternative for the future. Yes. It looks like it will beat its competitors like vegetable oil, jatropha etc. which are criticized for ethical reasons.
By the way, you might want to have a look at the resources we provide for the latest in Bio-Fuels @ our Future of Engineering Blog