Green Options » algae biofuel

Company To Develop Biofuel Made From Fish

Jerry James Stone — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:03:51 +0000

LiveFuels, Inc. hopes to make a renewable fuel using processed algae-fed fish.

The company–who develops renewable algae-based biofuels–has a test facility in Brownsville, TX. At the location they have 45 acres of open saltwater ponds which will be used for optimizing the algal production.

Most algae-to-biofuel companies are limited to monomcultures of algae, but LiveFuels plans to grow a mix of regional species in low-cost, open-water systems. The algae will be “harvested” with filter-feeding fish and other aquatic herbivores.

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OriginOil Announces Algae Processing Breakthrough

Clayton B. Cornell — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:34:03 +0000

Today, Los Angeles based OriginOil announced what they’re calling a breakthrough in algae processing, leading to a simpler and more efficient mechanism for producing algae-based biofuels.

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Algae Biofuels World Summit Wraps Up in San Francisco

Tom Schueneman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:30:16 +0000

The Algae Biofuels World Summit concluded yesterday in San Francisco. The event was geared to active participants in the industry, and I had the opportunity to attend Monday’s all day pre-conference briefing highlighting key players in government, research, and business all pursuing the goal of scaling algal biofuels to a commercial enterprise level.

It is clear that algae is “hot” - but as is often the case with hot, there is no shortage of hype. A recurring theme throughout the day was the common mis-percepton of algae biofuel as “cheap and easy” and a one-size-fits-all solution to the world’s fuel energy needs.

Not so fast.

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US: Rise in Blending Limit Must Ensure Increase in Production of Next Generation Biofuels

Mridul Chadha — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:15:02 +0000

America’s biofuel producers and lobbyists have urged President Obama to raise the 10 percent limit of ethanol blending in gasoline to 15 percent. Although the decision to raise the blending limit would infuse billions of dollars into the economy, create jobs and have environmental benefits, it could also lead to shortage in food supplies around the world.

The Environment Protection Agency ordered that about 9 billion gallons of ethanol be blended with fuels in 2008, a major portion of this came from corn and maize - both being edible crops. Farmers were given billions in subsidies to grow biofuel yielding crops, seeing great demand for biofuels on the back of record breaking oil prices farmers opted to sell these food crops to biofuel companies which in turn led to the food crisis witnessed last year.

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Solix Claims it Can Cut the Cost of Algae Production by 90 Percent

Ariel Schwartz — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:08:15 +0000

Algae fuel has become a hot topic as of late, and now Solix Biofuels has spiced up the conversation with a claim that it can cut the cost of growing algae by 90 to 95 percent.

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UK Starts World’s Largest Algae Biofuel Initiative

Jerry James Stone — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:37:42 +0000

Great Britain hopes that algae-based biofuels can reduce automotive and aviation emissions by 2030, and cut overall emissions by 80% by 2050.

While food-based biofuels are taking the heat for rising food prices, other solutions - like algae - are gaining a more serious following. For example, the UK’s Carbon Trust has announced plans for a project to make algae bio-fuels a commercial reality by the year 2020

But the situation is much more than some “food vs fuel” finger pointing. The fact that transport accounts for one-quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions is major driving factor - pun intended: it’s also the fastest growing cause of carbon emissions in the UK. If the government’s target to reduce overall emissions by 80% by 2050 is to be met, then initiatives like this are crucial.

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Bill Gates invests in The Great Green Hope - Algae Fuel

Adam Shake — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:29:07 +0000

Editor’s Note: This is a guest contribution from Adam Shake.

Bill Gates has his hands in the green again, but this time, it’s algae. His Investment Firm, Cascades Investments LLC, along with the Rockefeller family’s venture capital firm Venrock, the WellcomeTrust, and Arch Venture Partners have invested a total of 100 million dollars in Sapphire Energy.

Sapphire Energy, a San Diego based company that launched in May of 2007, says that it’s goal “is to be the world’s leading producer of renewable petrochemical products.” The companies website goes on to say “Critically important, there is no ‘food vs. fuel’ tradeoff. The process is not dependent on crops or valuable farmland. It is highly water efficient, delivering 10 to 100 times more energy per acre than cropland biofuels.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Sapphire is working towards a 10,000-barrel-a-day algae-based oil facility, and can now concentrate on production and engineering problems. Meanwhile, Gates’s involvement may signal a broader interest in alternative biofuels.”

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Camelina - The Next Generation Biofuel?

Andrew Williams — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:26:15 +0000

Over the last few months, things have been a bit gloomy in the world of biofuels. Earlier this year, they enjoyed a position of prominence as a viable means of reducing carbon emissions and addressing the energy crisis. Since then, federal mandates requiring an increase in the amount of land set aside for growing biofuel crops may have already contributed to rising food costs and, peversely, may have also actively triggered an increase in global warming. As a result, the public and political perception of biofuels is at an all-time low.

Step forward camelina, an oilseed crop whose supporters claim is already well on its way to being a viable low cost, high yield alternative to soy and corn as a source of biodiesel, without any of the downsides.

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The Week in Cleantech News (5/12- 5/16)

Timothy B. Hurst — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:55:18 +0000

For those of you who are bettin’ folks, traders on the Chicago Climate Exchange view the Democrats as more bullish on cap-and-trade systems. So if you’re betting on a Democratic victory, you’ll want to buy those contracts now, in anticipation of a price spike on Nov. 5 (Politico).

Toyota Prius sales have topped 1 million and dealers in most markets simply can’t keep them on the shelves. Toyota says domestic inventory is limited by production capacity in Japan, which is shared by the Asian and European markets. The U.S. supply is at its lowest level in two years (Wired).

Imagine a high-speed train that could get you from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two hours forty minutes. Well, that dream is now one step closer to reality as the California High Speed Rail Authority has cleared environmental impact assessments and is beginning construction of what will be the most substantial high-speed rail network in the U.S. But don’t make travel arrangements just yet. The project is not scheduled to be completed until 2030 (gas 2.0).

A joint biofuel effort was announced Thursday involving Air Bus, JetBlue, Honeywell, and Aero Engines that plans to study ways to make commercial aviation fuels out of second-generation feedstocks such as algae (Green Tech Blog).

A new wave of nuclear power plants in the U.S. is likely to cost $5 billion to $12 billion a plant, two to four times previous estimates, driving up electricity bills for consumers and inevitably reigniting public concerns about the costs and benefits of nuclear power (The Wall St. Journal).

Photo credits:

Karl Gunnarrsson via flickr Creative Commons License

compicpie via flickr Creative Commons License

Bistrosavage via flickr Creative Comons License

Could We Grow 100,000 Gallons of Oil per Acre? Yes, Says Vertigro Algae Biofuel [Video]

Clayton B. Cornell — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:56:10 +0000

I happened across this video on algae biofuel today: a company I’ve never heard of, Valcent Products, claims they can grow algae to produce oil yields of 100,000 gallons per acre. That’s the upper range of estimates I’ve seen for algae production—an absolutely phenomenal amount of oil—which Valcent attributes to their ‘high density vertical bioreactor’ system. Check it out (more video after the jump):

This story contains additional media. Click here to view the media.
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Smokestacks Make Biofuels

Max Lindberg — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:35:40 +0000

Would I put you on? It’s true, algae-based biofuels are being produced from CO2 emitted from smokstacks.

It’s happening through a company called GreenFuel, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass.

GreenFuel has been partnering with Arizona Public Service Company to create biofuels from algae grown using carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from a power plant. The companies successfully grew algae at APS’ Redhawk natural gas power plant in Arizona, and is moving their tests to a coal-fired power plant at Farmington, NM.

According to a release from APS, algae at Redhawk grew at levels 37 times higher than corn and 140 times higher than soybeans, which are now used to create biofuels.

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Virgin Atlantic to Use First-Generation Feedstock Instead of an Algae-Based Biofuel for Boeing 747 Test Flight

Max Lindberg — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:37:18 +0000

In what has become a somewhat confusing change in terminology, Boeing has announced it will use a first-generation feedstock for the fuel to be used in its upcoming demonstration flight this month.

It was first reported in January that Virgin Atlantic would test flight a Boeing 747 jetliner using a biofuel, without naming the fuel. An algae-derived biofuel was, however, mentioned as a strong possibility for the flight between London Heathrow airport and Amsterdam. The plane will carry a limited flight crew and no passengers.

Next, an official of the UK Department of Transport claimed in a document leaked to Flight International that a 20% mixture of algae biofuel and regular jet fuel will be used in one engine for the test.

The latest comes from a Boeing official who said, in an interveiw with Flight at the Singapore air show, the Virgin Flight will definitely not use algae-derived biofuel in the test. Instead, a first-generation feedstock, such as soy, canola, babassu or palm oil will be the source of the biofuel.

The use of a hydrogenated fuel would, as one expert put it, “be a good demonstration of proof of concept.” He did say, however, that algae will be considered as a fuel source in the future.

Well, whatever they use, it’ll be a first for the commercial aviation industry. An Airbus 380 flew with a gas-to-liquid biofuel a few weeks ago, proving that a biofuel was an option, but in their case it was a fuel derived from fossil deposits.

The test is slated for the end of February, so we’ll know soon what fuel was used in the flight.

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Algae Biofuel to be Used in Virgin Atlantic 747 Test Flight

Max Lindberg — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:53:19 +0000

Virgin Atlantic Airways will use a 20% blend of algae-derived biofuel in a demonstration flight later this month. The fuel will be fed to one engine through an independent system in order not to mix with the fuel going to the other three engines.

In January, Virgin announced it would conduct the test flight, and only hinted at the use of an algae-based biofuel for the test. Flight quoted a document verifying the use of the algae biofuel, and indicated there were no fears of a miscue during the flight.

A limited crew will fly the empty 747 from London’s Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam. Following the flight, officials said the aircraft’s fuel system will be completely flushed as a precaution to remove any residual biofuel. The engine being used is said to be due for a major overhaul after the test.

Airbus used a gas to liquid fuel, derived from natural gas, in its flight from Filton, UK to Toulouse, France in mid January.

Developers of algae-based biofuels say they can tweak certain varieties of algae to produce a fuel that would power a jet engine without using it as an additive. Pond scum seems to have gained dignity and appears headed for a real future.