It May Slime Pools and Ponds, but Algae Also Could Someday Power Our Vehicles
By John O'Dell March 16, 2009
Algae, which grows like crazy with little need for fertilizers, for taking valuable food crops off the table or for clear-cutting forests and plowing under grasslands, is a promising feedstock for a new generation of biofuels.
One project hopes to turn the slimy stuff into a profitable crop for the Mississippi Delta region's beleaguered catfish farmers, battered by rising feed and fuel costs.
A recent report from the Associated Press tells how former catfish farmers Hall Barrett III and his sister, Liz Jordan, are leasing their old catfish ponds to PetroSun Biofuels Inc., which intends to use them to grow algae for use in biodiesel and bioethanol production.
It's ironic because algae - although not the type that is commercially valuable - was once the bane of the catfish farmers, fouling their ponds and imparting an odd, musty flavor to the fish that fed on it.
But while algae grows rapidly, don't expect mass-produced biodiesel and bioethanol to begin flowing from slime refineries anytime soon.
It ill be a decade or more before that happens, says biofuels consultant William Thurmond, who looks at algae's prospects in an upcoming report, "Algae 2020," that's scheduled to be published next month.
Federal support of the technology does give biofuels-from-algae big market potential, though, Thurmond said in a recent online seminar covered by subscription-only E&E News.
U.S. renewable fuels standards call for most domestic biofuels to eventually be made from non-food sources (corn and soybeans are now the major feedstocks for ethanol and biodiesel, respectively), Thurmond points out, and that means algae-derived fuel stand a good chance of capturing major market share.
The aviation industry and the U.S. military (the world's largest consumer of diesel fuel) would be prime customers for mass produced biodiesel from algae.
A conservative estimate, Thurmond said, has algae-derived fuels pilot and demonstration projects showing up next year, with the first prototype production projects following in 2011.
The first commercial projects would show up in 2012,although as pioneer projects they'll be expensive to operate, he said. Additional commercial production in following years though, will help drive down costs and prices, eventually leading to more production.
By 2020, he said, "biocrude" from algae could be a common source for fuels now refined from petroleum, and ethanol could be made from the cellulose left behind when the slimy stuff is squeezed dry of its oils.
While 2020 seems like a long time until algae to comes into its own and helps relieve U.S. dependence on petroleum-based fuels, it "is faster than you can drill [new oil wells] off the coast, Tom Byrne, a Minnesota-based renewable energy consultant and member of the aviation-industry backed Algal Biomass Organization, told the AP.
To which we say, 'amen."
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
LEAVE A COMMENT
The future looks bright. I've read elsewhere that algae grown in ponds in currently available land in the Arizona desert alone can provide for all transportation needs of the U.S. If that means driving more cars like the BMW 335d, that's not a bad future at all.
Windpower and solar along w/nano carbon tubes in the grid can eventually supply all US electricity needs including plug in EVs. That's where car makers have to work on as far as the fun factor is concerned - a fun EV.
I wonder if there is a secondary advantage in creating a commercially profitable benefit for creating/maintaining wetlands, which further clean our waterways fisheries.
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