SteamboatEcobroker

They expect this to be commercially viable and on the market by 2010.

Wetlander and Johnny

Pond aren’t a great source for algae because of the potential for contamination and having to filter out just to be left with algae. Also, the yeild is lower, in the range of 4,000 to 15,000 gallons of oil per acre per year. With ponds rather than closed systems it’s likely to be toward the lower end of the range and more costly to refine. Valcent and Global Green claim they can get upwards of 100,000 gallons per acre per year because of the closed system and vertical layout. I’m waiting to see if this proves to be true.

Warren,

Yes, this is practical. As for calories, I can’t answer that for you but it is 2% less fuel efficient than petro diesel which is 30-40% more fuel efficient than gasoline. It can be run in any proportion mix with diesel and pure in todays diesel engines with minor modifications at a fraction of the cost of petroleum. Of course they won’t pass much of the savings on to us until the production of algae starts being enough to affect the price of oil overall.

Algaeboy,

To go a bit futher with your discussion of CO2, forcefeeding CO2 to algae increases it’s growth rate by 30 times. It is a great way of sequestering CO2 from coal plants, Depending on other factors affecting growth rate such as sunshine, temperature and amount of light the absorption of CO2 ranges from 50-90%. it also absorbs sulfur and NO2. The EPA has determined that the CO2 released back into the atmosphere by burning algae biodiesel is less than 70% of that of gasoline. Thus if it obsorbs no sulfur it emits none when burned unlike petroleum products.

For anybody interested, you might wish to read up on the economics of algae as a fuel. it’s based on the work of Michael Briggs from the University of New Hampshire Biodiesel Group. It shows how with conventional methods we might be able to achieve costs for algae oil as low as $18.56/barrel with production levels at 15,000 gallons per acre per year. If the claims of Vertigro are correct and 100,000 gallons can be acheived imagine how low that price can be. Here’s the link for that analysis.

http://www.americanenergyindependence.com/biodiesel.html

How exciting to be branching out in your categories! I found you on Best Green Blogs and was excited to see that you too are in Seattle. I added you to my daily reader

I am a green interior decorator in this lovely Emerald City with a biz blog and a green living column. I’d love to link you to my blog in the home section. Stop by and say hi! I see you have some of my favorite blogs, such as Ecofabulous, in your blogroll!

Eco blessings,
Amy

Burning the biofuel extracted from algae would indeed release CO2 into the atmosphere. However the production and growth of the algae pulls CO2 out of the atmosphere offsetting the impact of the released CO2 .

There becomes a balance between combustion(release of CO2) and photosynthesis(use of CO2). This is markedly different than burning fossil fuels which releases CO2(100 million year old CO2) during combustion.

Algae will not be an end all solution to our increasing atmospheric CO2 problem but it could be the beginning of a fairly sustainable way to make biofuel.