Algae oil - the Messiah of bio-diesel?

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Phenom

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> http://peswiki.com/index.php/Videos:Algae_Oil_&_Hydrogen <

Microalgae have much faster growth-rates than terrestrial crops. The per unit area yield of oil from algae is estimated to be from between 5,000 to 20,000 gallons per acre, per year (4.6 to 18.4 l/m2 per year); this is 7 to 30 times greater than the next best crop, Chinese tallow (699 gallons).
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel

As this stuff turns CO2 into fuel, and clean air, wouldn't this stuff be very usefull in south africa, where their are many new coal powerplants, being set up, coal is showing an revival in energy production world wide, while this does not only producing cheaper and cleaner electricity, it also creates fuel for our cars.

Will this stuff save us from global warming and the oil crisis?

why not?
 
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Well emergent green technologies are always interesting; whether it will come to fruition is another question. Current biofuels are just not workable IMO, especially with food prices being so ridiculous at the moment. This is a hopeful direction.
 
phenom said:
Will this stuff save us from global warming and the oil crisis?

why not?
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Oil crisis, maybe. Global warming definitely not.

Since the algae merely recycles existing CO2 (and is then used to create biofuel), there isn't going to be a net reduction in total CO2 levels. Unless you plan to stuff the the algae back down oil wells and seal it up, that is.
 
The companies in that area are getting huge grants.

It's definitely more workable than the biofuels-from-food BS idea that the US is promoting atm.
 
Phenom, once you BURN the fuel that's been made from the algae, you release that CO2 back into the air. A fuel such as this can be described as having a nett carbon footprint of zero, because theoretically, once you've burned the fuel, the next batch of algae is growing and re-absorbing the same amount of carbon from the air as the carbon you just burned. In short, the amount of algae required to make a litre of fuel will absorb as much CO2 from the air, as is released when you burn a litre of the fuel.

It can't absorb more CO2 than is released when you burn it, so unless you juts grow the algae and don't use it for fuel, you can't compensate for the emission from coal stations etc.
 
phenom said:
Oh, that was what xarog's also meant? is this really true?

Many sources*http://www.algaetobiodiesel.com/ says that it DOES NOT PRODUCE CARBON EMISSIONS WHEN BURNT, or much less than traditional crude oil, as this is, it may absorb more carbon emissions than it could emit, therefor also eliminating carbon emissions, or at least, accounting for it's own footprint, leaving it to the rest of the plants to cleanup the rest.

It can also be used to turn sunlight and CO2 into hydrogen, which is also a clean fuel, that can easily be brunt; This process will do well, and produce much electric, when they are placed next to coal, or oil refineries which produce tones of CO2
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I'm fairly certain they mean zero NETT carbon emissions.

*edit* In fact from the link you posted:

Since the carbon found in biofuels are found in plants and therefore "grown" through photosynthesis of plants, there are no net carbon emissions when biofuels are burned or combusted.
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the only problem i have with a biofual car is that will the town of blikiesfonien have a staion that sells the stuff. else my car wont be very effective
 
gboy said:
the only problem i have with a biofual car is that will the town of blikiesfonien have a staion that sells the stuff. else my car wont be very effective
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Well, biodiesel is pretty much exactly the same as normal diesel. It's only ethanol etc, that requires certain modifications to your car to run. AFAIK, a car that can run on ethanol should also be able to run on petrol, but not the other way around.
 
hmmm. Interesting. But, I think, we will only be able to stop the very increasing CO2 emissions IF everyone was to use this bio fuel, and then the rest of the plants will take over. thing is that I think in South Africa, this Bio fuel thing is really the only way we can continue because as it stands, R10 for diesel is just insane, but, if we got bio diesel to sell at R5 a liter, then who would be stupid enough to crude oil based diesel?

we just need an area where there's constant sunlight, massive amounts of space and some water and I think making bio diesel won't be that hard. With the karoo and the orange river in the same area, i think we might just have the ideal location to make bio diesel and other fuels from this algea.

there's one thing that worries me though, and thats if a general company is set up to manage the prices of the bio fuels which might lead to over priced fuels :(
 
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