Biodiesel Algae – A Viable Alternative Energy Source
For decades scientists have been searching for viable alternative energy sources that don’t use up our dwindling resources. Recent worries about the harmful pollutants caused by our traditional fuels have made the search for alternative energy even more urgent. One of the most promising new fuel sources being developed is biodiesel algae. Unlike biodiesel made from corn or soybeans, the use of algae would allow us to create large reservoirs of fuel without having an impact on food production. Biodiesel fuel has already been proven to work, and many automobiles are powered by biodiesel fuel today.
How Does it Work?
The algae that is used to create biodiesel algae naturally contains a large amount of lipid oils. Those oils can be strained out of the algae, then processed through a catalyst, which creates a chemical reaction that converts the lipid oils into burnable fuel. Once the algae oil is converted, the resulting fuel can be used in cars, airplanes, or any other gasoline burning machinery. This fuel is biodegradable and clean burning, unlike the oil-based products widely in use today. The interest in algae-based fuel is growing, and new technologies are being developed to take advantage of this new fuel source.
Can we Make Enough?
The interesting thing about biodiesel algae is that it is the most viable candidate for biologically replacing all of the fuel that is consumed worldwide. If algae were used to replace all of the petroleum that is used in the United States today, it would only require 1/7 of the space that is currently used to grow corn. Algae is an incredibly efficient oil producer, and it is easy to cultivate. Scientists are working with microalgae, which grows much faster than naturally occurring algae. It is possible to gain up to 20,000 gallons of oil from one acre in a year. At that rate, algae seems a logical renewable biofuel with very few drawbacks.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 11:39 am and is filed under Biofuels from Algae. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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