Biofuel from algae

[Steve]

Biofuel from algae is probably the most economic and scalable biofuel there is. The following video makes it sound like a slam dunk:

http://www.valcent.net/i/misc/Vertigro/index.html

[freedml]

Re: Biofuel from algae

They showed how they grow the algae, but not a word about harvesting it. I expect that the capital and energy required would put it up there with Hydrogen and Ethanol in terms of unviability.

[Steve]

Re: Biofuel from algae

I don't know about the costs to extract the oil but it happens by a sort of centrifuge. A friend of mine is working on getting a start up going specifically for extracting biofuel from algae. He mentioned that the process is a lot more cost effective than ethanol but I don't know what the costs are.

[Andy-Paul]

Re: Biofuel from algae

They showed how they grow the algae, but not a word about harvesting it. I expect that the capital and energy required would put it up there with Hydrogen and Ethanol in terms of unviability.

You harvest algae with a skimmer boat--it looks like a cross between a pontoon boat and a paddle wheeler. Here in the southeast (and maybe out where y'all are as well) algae harvesting is necessary to keep the fish in a stocked pond alive. The stuff grows fast, too.

In the great tradition of better mousetraps, I am sure there are a gazillion variations on it, but I doubt it gets too far away from a glorified set of sieves that let the water out and keep the slime in the boat.

The interesting part from my perspective is how to get the excess silicon out of the algae--that's going to take some serious chemical thinking to make things happen in a profitable manner.

andy-paul