GRA
Well-known member
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I'd like to see more details of this, especially space usage and output. Algae-manufactured drop-in biofuels strike me as the most likely (possibly the only) way to make sustainable biofuels that don't use cropland, are cost-effective and which can be scaled up to the level needed. The total amount, even when the commercial-scale plant is in operation and (assuming it will) producing 18 million gallons/yr, is still just a drop in the bucket; the U.S. uses about 850 million gallons of petroleum per DAY. But you've got to start somewhere, and this has been a long time coming.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/09/20150915-algenol.htmlAlgenol to distribute algae-derived ethanol commercially
Offering ethanol made from algae for the first time commercially, Algenol Biotech LLC and Protec Fuel Management, LLC have entered into an agreement to market and distribute ethanol from Algenol’s Fort Myers, Fla., commercial demonstration module. The two will also offer Algenol’s future 18 million gallons per year from its commercial plant, which is planned for development in Central Florida in 2016 and 2017.
Protec Fuel will distribute and market the fuel for E15 and E85 applications for both retail stations and general public consumption, as well as fleet applications. . . .
This agreement follows a series of successful commercialization milestones achieved by Algenol, which include its pathway approval by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in December 2014, its organism approval by both the state of Florida and by the EPA in the same year, and the June 2015 completion of its 2-acre commercial demonstration module funded in part by a $25 million DOE Recovery Act grant. Algenol is producing ethanol meeting the D4806 ASTM specifications on a daily basis, and it can be sold commercially as E85.
Algenol has developed a patented technology using algae to produce the four most widely used fuels: ethanol, gasoline, jet and diesel fuel, all for about $1.30 a gallon. The company captures, recycles and utilizes CO2 that is used as a feedstock for the algae, an approach specifically identified as a qualifying technology for reducing carbon emissions in the recently established Clean Power Plan.
Its pathway reduces Greenhouse gas emissions by 69% per gallon compared to traditional gasoline according to the official EPA pathway approval.
I'd like to see more details of this, especially space usage and output. Algae-manufactured drop-in biofuels strike me as the most likely (possibly the only) way to make sustainable biofuels that don't use cropland, are cost-effective and which can be scaled up to the level needed. The total amount, even when the commercial-scale plant is in operation and (assuming it will) producing 18 million gallons/yr, is still just a drop in the bucket; the U.S. uses about 850 million gallons of petroleum per DAY. But you've got to start somewhere, and this has been a long time coming.