Hope Part IV: Will Algae save mankind?
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Biodiesel from Algae
Excerpt:
The best alternative at present is clearly biodiesel, a fuel that can be used in existing diesel engines with no changes, and is made from vegetable oils or animal fats rather than petroleum.
One of the biggest advantages of biodiesel compared to other alternative transportation fuels is that it can be used in existing diesel engines.
However, with biodiesel, since the same engines can run on conventional petroleum diesel, manufacturers can comfortably produce diesel vehicles before biodiesel is available on a wide scale. As biodiesel production continues to ramp up, it can just go into the same fuel distribution infrastructure, just replacing petroleum diesel.
The main issue that is often contested is whether or not we would be able to grow enough crops to provide the oil for producing the amount of biodiesel that would be required to completely replace petroleum as a transportation fuel.
Some species of algae are ideally suited to biodiesel production due to their high oil content (some as much as 50% oil), and extremely fast growth rates. From the results of the Aquatic Species Program2, algae farms would let us supply enough biodiesel to completely replace petroleum as a transportation fuel in the US (as well as its other main use - home heating oil).
One of the important concerns about wide scale development of biodiesel is if it would displace croplands currently used for food crops. With algae, that concern is completely eliminated, as algae grows ideally in either hot desert climates or off of waste streams.
In the previous section, we found that to replace all transportation fuels in the US, we would need 140.8 billion gallons of biodiesel, or roughly 14 quads. To produce that amount would require a land mass of almost 11,000 square miles. To put that in perspective, consider that the Sonora desert in the southwestern US comprises 120,000 square miles.
We found that at NREL's yield rates, 11,000 square miles (2.82 million hectares) of algae ponds would be needed to replace all petroleum transportation fuels with biodiesel. At the cost of $60,000 per hectare, that would work out to roughly $169 billion, to build the farms.
To make biodiesel, you need not only the vegetable oil, but an alcohol as well (either ethanol or methanol). The alcohol only constitutes about 20-25% of the volume of the biodiesel, so the volume of alcohol needed is only about 1/4 the volume of oil. One of the most land-efficient and energy-efficient way of producing methanol is using pyrolysis on biomass. One of the additional benefits of this method is that the process produces both methanol as well as charcoal, which can be burned for energy production (replacing coal, and producing no net CO2 emissions or sulfate emissions).
Summary:
Mankind's future might be saved by Algae! Maybe we should dedicate Pulau Tekong for Algae production ^^;.
Biodiesel from Algae
Excerpt:
The best alternative at present is clearly biodiesel, a fuel that can be used in existing diesel engines with no changes, and is made from vegetable oils or animal fats rather than petroleum.
One of the biggest advantages of biodiesel compared to other alternative transportation fuels is that it can be used in existing diesel engines.
However, with biodiesel, since the same engines can run on conventional petroleum diesel, manufacturers can comfortably produce diesel vehicles before biodiesel is available on a wide scale. As biodiesel production continues to ramp up, it can just go into the same fuel distribution infrastructure, just replacing petroleum diesel.
The main issue that is often contested is whether or not we would be able to grow enough crops to provide the oil for producing the amount of biodiesel that would be required to completely replace petroleum as a transportation fuel.
Some species of algae are ideally suited to biodiesel production due to their high oil content (some as much as 50% oil), and extremely fast growth rates. From the results of the Aquatic Species Program2, algae farms would let us supply enough biodiesel to completely replace petroleum as a transportation fuel in the US (as well as its other main use - home heating oil).
One of the important concerns about wide scale development of biodiesel is if it would displace croplands currently used for food crops. With algae, that concern is completely eliminated, as algae grows ideally in either hot desert climates or off of waste streams.
In the previous section, we found that to replace all transportation fuels in the US, we would need 140.8 billion gallons of biodiesel, or roughly 14 quads. To produce that amount would require a land mass of almost 11,000 square miles. To put that in perspective, consider that the Sonora desert in the southwestern US comprises 120,000 square miles.
We found that at NREL's yield rates, 11,000 square miles (2.82 million hectares) of algae ponds would be needed to replace all petroleum transportation fuels with biodiesel. At the cost of $60,000 per hectare, that would work out to roughly $169 billion, to build the farms.
To make biodiesel, you need not only the vegetable oil, but an alcohol as well (either ethanol or methanol). The alcohol only constitutes about 20-25% of the volume of the biodiesel, so the volume of alcohol needed is only about 1/4 the volume of oil. One of the most land-efficient and energy-efficient way of producing methanol is using pyrolysis on biomass. One of the additional benefits of this method is that the process produces both methanol as well as charcoal, which can be burned for energy production (replacing coal, and producing no net CO2 emissions or sulfate emissions).
Summary:
Mankind's future might be saved by Algae! Maybe we should dedicate Pulau Tekong for Algae production ^^;.
posted by Zuraffo at 1:04 PM
3 Comments:
[+/-] show/hide comments to this postThis blog has got a new look! It looks more like mine... Cool!
I like the new look in your blog. At least it is soothing to the eyes.
Biodiesel? is it the same as " Zhao qi" in Chinese?
How are you going to heat the Biomass to the required temperture of 500-600C? Methanol, ethanol and biodiesel all use fossil fuels (mostly oil, but coal or Ngas could be used). Oil was formed deep in the earth where the temperature was hot enough to slowly convert biomass into oil.
Second I believe Algae releases some Methane gas which is a really bad green house gas. If Algae was grown in sufficient quantities to replace Oil it would likely have enviromental impact.
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