What if Holland Michigan opened an Algae Fuel production facility?
The buzz is out there and Michigan is poised to take action.

• Many greatly needed jobs would be created for West Michigan
• The pollutions and emission produced at the near by waste water facility could be drastically reduced
• Michigan will have the opportunity to export biomass, fuels, feed products, hydrogen and other algae derived material much in part to the easy access of Lake Michigan
  
• Since the gas that can be produced from algae is similar to the fuel we use today, Michigan automakers may have increased opportunity to advance knowing they won't need to totally redesign the internal combustion engine.  This could also benefit Michigan's mechanics and prevent them from having to relearn their trade

What if?....... only time will tell.

Michigan deserves and needs this facility. 

[Source: MLive ]

        

Where Does Algae For Fuel Grow and Is It Feasible to Grow It?

To answer this basic question, we go to the research conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), funded by a Division of the Department of Energy, and see what their research showed. It's quite enlightening. (See footnote.)

The study itself started as an accident when their research into using algaes to control CO2 emissions found that many species of algae actually have very high oil contents (some over 50% by volume) and therefore might be used to produce vegetable-based biofuels instead.

The study then focused on the farming and production of algae on a large scale and used a desert environment as their base. Their findings were remarkable.

The NREL's research showed that in order to produce roughly 141 billion gallons of biodiesel (the amount needed to replace what the Dept. of Energy says the USA uses in carbon-based fuels in one year), that roughly 15,000 square miles of desert would be needed.

Sounds like a lot. Doesn't it? It's not, when you put it into perspective. The Sonora Desert in the southwestern U.S. is 120,000 square miles large. The U.S. currently uses about 450 million acres of land to grow crops, while 15,000 square miles is only about 9.5 million acres.

In other words, the amount of space needed to grow enough algae to replace all of our current petroleum fuel consumption is only about 2% of the total land used to grow the food we eat! Better yet, it's using land that isn't currently being used to grow food, so no displacement occurs.

So is this feasible? Yes, it is. All that's needed are interested parties to invest in and begin researching and growing the algae needed. That's already started to happen. In April of this year, a new plant, built in Texas, went online and began producing algae for biofuel! (See footnote.)

This means the future is bright for algae-based biofuels and is only getting brighter.

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

PetroSun press release: biz.yahoo.com/iw/080324/0378475.html

        

How Much Fuel Do We Need To Replace With Algae and Other Alternatives?

Now that we know that, no matter whose numbers you believe, the energy crisis is only going to get worse, the question has to be answered: How hard will it be to replace most or all of our current petroleum fuels with alternatives?

The first step in answering this question is the basis for my post today. There are a lot of numbers out there to choose from, but for our purposes, we'll use the numbers provided by the U.S. Government via the Department of Energy (http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/alternate/page/atftables/afvtrans_c1.xls).

Just counting gasoline and diesel fuel, the United States used 184.3 million gallons of fuel in 2006. That, my friend, is a lot of fuel. Alternative fuels (such as ethanol, hydrogen, etc.) accounted for only another 4.8 million gallons.

Here is the good news: now that algae is a realistic and usable alternative to regular fuel, it is by far the most efficient way to do so. The numbers on our own website prove this. At 20,000 gallons per acre per year, only 9,215 acres are required to replace all of our petroleum-based fuels with renewable algae fuels. That's not very much when you compare with the alternatives.

Best of all, many of the major consumers in the United States are already running engines that are compatible with fuels made from algae, so they wouldn't need to upgrade or make costly replacements!

This is why algae is such a great alternative that needs to be expanded on and used!

        

Would you like to be a featured author on www.algaepetro.com ?

 Just comment this post. 

Let us know why you'd be qualified to write for us.

 A great way to get your name out there.

Huge Thanks to Aaron Turpen. 
Aaron was our most recent Featured Author.
Great Job!
We appreciate the awareness you've brought for Algae Biofuels.

        

With all the hype about biofuels and their great potential for replacing our current fossil fuels as alternatives, there is usually very little talk about when, exactly, this replacement might take place. Or the talk is in vague terms like “the next thirty to fifty years” or “the next few decades.”

The reality is that most biofuels on the market are not very well positioned to replace anything more than a fraction of our current fossil fuel use. Current numbers from the Department of Energy, for instance, show that ethanol only accounts for about 3.5% of our total gasoline usage in the USA. Biodiesel holds a larger market share world-wide, accounting for almost half of Europe's total diesel fuel usage (according to the European Union).

Given these numbers, the future might look bright. The problem is that both standard biodiesel and ethanol require the use of crops that would otherwise be eaten by humans or animals or of croplands that would otherwise be used to grow them. This takes food off our tables.

Some alternatives, like hydrogen, are becoming more and more viable, but it will still be decades before the fuel cells can be made at a cost low enough to make the vehicles they power marketable. Similarly, electric-only vehicles are plagued by their relatively short range because of limitations in battery storage.

This summer, however, marks a huge stepping stone for algae as a production-level biofuel. Despite setbacks due to funding cuts by the Clinton administration of the 1990s, new funding and a renewed interest by large corporations in the energy industry have rekindled algae's possibilities.

Two years ago, not even a handful of companies were experimenting with algae as a fuel source. Now, in 2008, there are dozens. Chevron, Shell, and other large energy companies are teaming with smaller algae experimenters to research and begin production on oil-producing algae. An operational plant in Arizona and another in Texas are already producing on a small scale while new plants in Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado, and other locations are being built right now.

All of this means that within the next decade, algae-based biofuels could be readily available for your purchase at the pump. In fact, it may be available at the airport too. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has teamed with Honeywell to come up with a J-8 jet fuel for use in military aircraft.

So expect to see algae-based biofuels on the market sooner, rather than later. The high price of gasoline in America has at least one up-side: it drives corporations to look for alternatives to polluting fossil fuels!

by Aaron Turpen

        

A quick Google search of phrases like “algae bio reactor” and “DIY algae reactor” will give you a lot of results to start with. Most of them are not true algae reactors, but actually CO2 farms for algae growers – part of the fish tank enthusiasts' culture. But here and there, you'll find eco-geeks who're building these just to fiddle with their environmental helpfulness aspects.

My favorite is by Jared Bouck, posted at InfoGeek.com (http://inventgeek.com/Projects/photo-bio-reactor/overview.aspx). His is medium-sized and cost about $200 to build, but can be scaled up or down to suit your budget and desires.

The project itself takes about eight hours to complete, though if you're inept with tools and aren't much of a tinkerer, you might want to double that time-frame. The instructions themselves, though, are great and include a lot of titles like “Killing a Tree” (the frame is built of wood) and “Hitting Stuff With a Hammer” (to build the frame to hold the apparatus in place). I prefer the term “Irish toolbox” to hammer, of course.

The highest cost will be in the acrylics needed: both tubes and tube-ends. Once the setup is going, though, Jared points out that there are a lot of things you can do with it other than just watching it suck up CO2 and bubble away oxygen...

Fish aquarium enthusiasts (especially salt water types) will be more than happy to siphon off your excess algae to feed to their little swimming buddies – and trust me, you'll need to get rid of some algae sooner rather than later, this stuff grows FAST.

So if you've got some time on your hands and want to try building your own algae photo generator, get out your tools, load up Jared's instructions, and go to work!

by Aaron Turpen

        

Some common questions about the use of algae as an alternative biofuel source regard the already relatively wide-scale production and use of other biofuels like ethanol, soy biodiesel, and similar products. These are good questions and must be answered.

Most of these biofuel sources use existing food crops (called “feedstock” in the industry) to create fuels. In other words, they remove these feedstocks from the grocery shelves in favor of making fuels out of them. In the case of corn alone, this has meant a marked increase in the price of corn in world markets. It means less corn on the dinner table. Corn is a staple food in this country and is not easily replaced as such. Soy, on the other hand, is a “background” feedstock used as filler in animal feeds, vegetable oils, and more.

In addition, using any food as an alternative fuel means that the crop lands used to grow those foods are not growing them for human or animal consumption, but instead for the consumption of your automobile. This takes food off your grocery shelves. Many farmers are finding it more profitable to grow for the fuel market than for the food market, especially with all the federal government subsidies being given for doing so, and are therefore growing less and less food for us to eat. Not good.

Algae, on the other hand, is not often used for anything more than supplements to diets and are not grown in regular farm lands used to grow most foodstuffs. Algae, instead, grows in swamps and other areas where food production is not common. This makes it a great choice in that algae does not remove any of the aspects of our normal food production from the markets, thus creating a new market for growers instead of replacing current markets.

In a later post, we'll look at harder numbers regarding this phenomenon.

by Aaron Turpen

        

Swampland For Sale!

I'm sure you've seen the news reports and heard the jokes about con-artists selling swampland to unsuspecting rubes who're easily swindled of their money.

But it's not a swindle and it's not a joke.  It's for real.

Swampland is soon to become one of the most sought-after commodities in America.  Why?

Algae!  Yep, many forms of algae grow on swampland.  Since algae is positioned to become the fuel of the future (or biofuel of the future, if you prefer), the places where it grows best will become hot beds of real estate sniping. 

This means that those who are wise enough to purchase the land may become the real estate moguls of the future. 

Here's an example:  according to Realtor.com, you can purchase undeveloped swampland in Florida for about $1,000/acre.  If, in the near future, a prospector comes to you with an offer to buy the land for algae production... 

Consider this: a farmer in Iowa leases out a piece of his land to a company that has built wind towers and turbines on it.  He gets $2000/year for land that would otherwise be producing about $100 worth of corn.  Now just think about what a company like that might be willing to pay to lease or purchase land for algae growth to make biofuels!

So yes, “Swampland For Sale” is no longer a joke. 

Stay tuned for more crazy entrepreneurial ideas from Nicnaimless.

disclaimer: I am not selling swampland and I am not licensed to sell, suggest or otherwise recommend any investment.  This article was written for entertainment value only.

        

Well I'm just starting to pick up on this technology but I intend to watch it closely.  This is the basics as I understand it in pure layman's terms.  Algae can be converted into diesel, gasoline and biodiesel.

• Grow algae.  Yup, the green slimy stuff. 
  
• Feed it carbon dioxide.  This is the greenhouse gas produced by cars.  Algae grows fast on this stuff and it keeps the greenhouse gas from going into our atmosphere.
  
• So, pump CO2 emissions into the water.  Algae eats the CO2.
  
• Algae produces oxygen for us to breath as it grows  :0  air is good!
• Extract the algae.
• Dry the algae.
• Press the dried algae and squeeze the oil from it.
• You can ferment the pulp to make ethanol.
• The leftovers from the pulp are high in protein content and you can feed it to chickens, pigs and cows.
• The oil we squeezed is biodiesel.

This entire process is actually very quick.  Just days.  Algae is the fastest growing plant on Earth and it produces oxygen as it grows.

Comparison of algae to traditional biofuels.

• Corn.     18 gallons per acer per year
• Palm.     700-800 gallons per acer per year
• Algae.    20,000 gallons per acer per year