Alternative : Biofuels - Algae

[LTLFTcomposite]

national high speed train system; 1.5-2.5 trillion. yea, that is a lot but still only a half dozen years of oil cost. add a trillion and we could reduce truck traffic on roads by 70%. no more long haul trucks. they would all be local, driving less than 200 miles, home for dinner every night and no more worrying whether that trucker next to you has had enough sleep.

I'm a fan of high speed rail but it isn't about freight. Rail freight is already alive and well in the US.

 

[evnow]

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/02/02/shell-quits-last-algae-biodiesel-project/

Shell quits last algae biodiesel research project

With the promise of 100 times as much fuel per acre than traditional sources like corn and soy, algae biofuel was thought to be the answer to biofuels. Last year, the U.S. Department of Energy even gave out $24 million for research on this new technology, including $9 million to Cellana. Who is Cellana? It's a joint venture between Shell Oil and HR Biopetroleum.

 

[Smidge204]

Shell quits last algae biodiesel research project

That's practically proof that it works better than expected! :lol:
=Smidge=

 

[Herm]

Check the links that evnow posted in the second reply.

I dont think algae will ever amount to anything, it consumes too much energy to pump the water around for the energy return, and using tidal pools brings contamination issues with wild strains of algae. Perhaps if you had cold fusion and electricity was too cheap to meter then it could make sense, then again it would be cheaper to synthesize ammonia fuels directly out of air if you have unlimited power.

Gasification of NG, coal and cellulose is a good way to make liquid fuels, methanol is the simplest and cheapest fuel you can synthesize. I like methanol for transportation fuel, either burned in an ICE, ECE or directly in a fuel cell. Saab Scania makes diesel-like engines that burn alcohols very efficiently, using compression ratios of 28:1

 

[Smidge204]

Check the links that evnow posted in the second reply.

I dont think algae will ever amount to anything, it consumes too much energy to pump the water around for the energy return, and using tidal pools brings contamination issues with wild strains of algae. Perhaps if you had cold fusion and electricity was too cheap to meter then it could make sense, then again it would be cheaper to synthesize ammonia fuels directly out of air if you have unlimited power.

Gasification of NG, coal and cellulose is a good way to make liquid fuels, methanol is the simplest and cheapest fuel you can synthesize. I like methanol for transportation fuel, either burned in an ICE, ECE or directly in a fuel cell. Saab Scania makes diesel-like engines that burn alcohols very efficiently, using compression ratios of 28:1

I really think you're overestimating pumping losses. You're likely dealing with very low velocity flows and not much open-loop lift. I'm extremely confident you will see a return on investment for your pumping power... especially if you get super fancy and use a solar-fired fluidyne engine as a pump.

The real problem is getting the nutrients/CO2 into the feedstock to begin with. I don't think it's insurmountable.

Also, I don't think you'd need to do much gasification for natural gas Personally I'm starting to wonder is biomethane is a viable way to go: Renewable, huge infrastructure in place, useful as a motor fuel AND heating/domestic use (cooking) AND electricity. Just gotta set up some bioreactors and pump it into the existing pipelines! Easier said than done of course... but another piece of the energy puzzle.
=Smidge=

 

[TimeHorse]

I really think you're overestimating pumping losses. You're likely dealing with very low velocity flows and not much open-loop lift. I'm extremely confident you will see a return on investment for your pumping power... especially if you get super fancy and use a solar-fired fluidyne engine as a pump.

The real problem is getting the nutrients/CO2 into the feedstock to begin with. I don't think it's insurmountable.

Totally agree; I think it comes down to algae being a better fuel generator than something that Mexico depends on in their cooking (as we do -- read an ingredients list of almost any food and you'll have a hard time finding one that isn't derived from corn or soy; sometimes I wish we cultivated more sunflowers like in Europe -- they're so much prettier than corn). Heck, even Poplar trees make better fuel stock than Maize! I just can't imagine this would be physically impossible to make economical. Sure, I look forward to the day when everything runs on Quantum Piston Engines but until that day comes; until batteries can have a Specific Energy Density of 1,723.26 Pm kg/s**4, they'll never totally replace hydrocarbons IMHO. Not that I want to depend on the Bin Laden family for my hydrocarbons. So the more renewable and environmental a solution we can derive by genetic manipulation of biology, the happier I am. And I do think that given enough time, we can solve a lot of the physical problems with bio-fuel production from Algae. But maybe only our great-great-great grandchildren will really master it; who knows?

Also, I don't think you'd need to do much gasification for natural gas Personally I'm starting to wonder is biomethane is a viable way to go: Renewable, huge infrastructure in place, useful as a motor fuel AND heating/domestic use (cooking) AND electricity. Just gotta set up some bioreactors and pump it into the existing pipelines! Easier said than done of course... but another piece of the energy puzzle.

At the D.C. Auto Show I met a fellow from Bolivia, a nation rich in Methane (Natural Gas) and he was telling me how many cars down there run directly off of it. I say Methane isn't great but it's certainly better than petroleum or coal if the density can be compressed sufficiently.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Move over hydrogen, pond scum is back in the news, and it doesn't take a 10,000 psi tank to hold it.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/algae-crude-oil-less-hour-120108380.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;