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Page added on April 5, 2012
The Future of Algae Biofuels
Researchers at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have assembled the draft genome sequence of a marine algae, Nannochloropis gaditan, that may be capable of producing the lipid yields necessary for a viable fuel source.
Algae is an ideal alternative, renewable fuel source because it can use various water sources ranging from wastewater to brackish water and can be grown in small, intensive plots on denuded land. Further analysis revealed that with genetic modification, N. gaditana should be capable of producing biofuel on an industrial scale, which may be the wave of the future in fuel research and production.
Third world ranchers have been using methane from manure to run electrical generators. And now, the U.S is also benefiting from this clean-burning biogas.
About 80% of the estimated 160 biogas energy projects in the U.S. are currently installed on dairy farms, which then combust the gas to generate electricity. A large portion of the U.S.’ biogas energy projects are found in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Among other states, Vermont has been a standout because Central Vermont Public Service, the state’s largest utility, has delivered over 47 million kWh of local “Cow Power” to some 3 percent of its 160,000 customers.
Southern Company Test High Temperature-Pressure Power Generation Technology
Southern Company and Alstom has begun testing of technology to support development of advanced ultrasupercritical boilers. Advanced ultrasupercritical boilers use higher temperature and pressure to generate electricity with greater efficiency and reduced emissions of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, particulates and carbon dioxide. The two-year project will gather data on the performance of alloy materials under advanced ultrasuperctritcal temperatures of about 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit.
3 Comments on "The Future of Algae Biofuels"
BillT on Fri, 6th Apr 2012 2:28 am
All the little ideas will be used, but few will be practical or last long. Algae? I doubt it!
How do you replace an amount of oil energy that took nature maybe a million years to make one days worth of petroleum?
With algae/cow farts/high pressure cookers? NOPE!
With corn/sugar cane/wood chips? NOPE!
Dream on petroleum addicts!
Kenz300 on Fri, 6th Apr 2012 4:34 am
Second generation biofuels can now be made from waste or trash. The world produces a lot of trash every day. If every landfill in the world produced biofuels from waste, energy (methane) and raw materials for new products we could provide local jobs and local energy supplies.
No one substitute for oil will be able to take its place. In the future we will be looking for and using many alternatives.
Alternative energy sources are viable and investments in them are outpacing investments in the finite resources.
Electricity generated from wind power, solar energy, wave energy and biomass drew $187 billion last year compared with $157 billion for natural gas, oil and coal, according to Bloomberg. Storage technology for wind and solar is now coming online.
BillT on Fri, 6th Apr 2012 4:52 am
Kenz, dream on. You are trying to replace a trillion barrels of oil with trash, and techno fixes that will not pan out for many reasons, mainly that they are not scalable to the volumes necessary. Not even close. Maybe, if we are lucky, we can slow to a sustainable level somewhere around 20% of our current energy use, but not more. And that is based on the replacements NOT requiring any new mineral or resource mining/refining. Those fields require plentiful, cheap oil energy, not biofuels.