Biodiesel from algae

I just found out about the research being done on creating biodiesal from algae. This is the first biofuel possibility that looks like it has a realistic potential to provide the amounts of energy the world needs to produce.

I'll throw up what I've found thus far in trying to find out more about all this. This is from a University of New Hampshire web site..

"II. Large scale production

There are two steps that would need to be taken for producing biodiesel on a large scale - growing the feedstocks, and processing them into biodiesel. The latter step would perhaps be best accomplished by existing oil refineries within the US being converted to biodiesel refineries, but could also be accomplished by new companies building new plants. 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. So, that is the main issue that will be addressed here.

The Office of Fuels Development, a division of the Department of Energy, funded a program from 1978 through 1996 under the National Renewable Energy Laboratory known as the "Aquatic Species Program". The focus of this program was to investigate high oil yield algaes that could be grown specifically for the purpose of wide scale biodiesel production1. 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. NREL's research focused on the development of algae farms in desert regions, using shallow salt water pools for growing the algae. Another nice benefit of using algae as a food stock is that in addition to using considerably less water than traditional oilseed crops, algae also grows best in salt water, so farms could be built near the ocean with no need to desalinate the seawater as it is used to fill the ponds.

NREL's research showed that one quad (ten billion gallons) of biodiesel could be produced from 200,000 hectares of desert land (200,000 hectares is equivalent to 780 square miles). 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. As can be seen in Figure 1 below, the Sonora desert is located along the Pacific ocean, making it an ideal location for algae farms. The arid climate of the desert is very supportive of algae growth, and the nearby ocean could supply saltwater for the algae ponds. Enough biodiesel to replace all petroleum transportation fuels could be grown in 11,000 square miles, or roughly nine percent of the area of the Sonora desert...."



http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html

here's more links...

http://www.ott.doe.gov/biofuels/pdfs/biodiesel_from_algae_ps.pdf
http://www.ott.doe.gov/biofuels/pdfs/biodiesel_from_algae_es.pdf
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/pdf/algae_salton_sea.pdf
http://www.osti.gov/fcvt/deer2002/eberhardt.pdf
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24089.pdf

They all worked earlier, but the first two aren't working now. I'll find out what's up.

(On edit) This link works for that first report...

http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24190.pdf

is in this thread, about 1/2 to 2/3 the way down.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x4500