The new technology uses tiny nanoparticles to absorb free fatty acids from living microalgae.
This new process allows algae to continue growing rather than killing them to produce the biofuel.
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Their projects include algae biodiesel, biobutanol from wheat straw in Britain, and partnering with Verenium in Louisiana using enzymes to breakdown grasses into alcohol. Logan, Utah will attempt to turn noxious, reeking manure lagoons into biofuel factories by using algae. Not only does this turn a liability into an asset, it is way less expensive than building expensive facilities to treat the sewage. The algae cultivated in the lagoons is to be converted to methane and used as fuel [...] These new [algae biofuel] startups are developing strains of algae that continuously produce and actively secrete oils and ethanol. By turning the algae cells themselves into microscopic refineries, several process steps can be eliminated along with costs. Second, these startups are also hooking up with some big partners in industry to demonstrate that their [...] WSJ explains how current algae-to-biofuel R&D is focused on genetic engineering to coax the algae to secrete the biofuel naturally rather than having to manually squeeze it out. Earth2tech details the big money going into algae biofuel R&D, including from oil companies and the US government. Yeah, there’s been some busts here, but this technology is still in its infancy, so give it time. My guess: sooner or later algae biofuel will be competitive with petroleum-based fuel. They plan to invest up to $600 million with Synthetic Genomics to create biofuel from algae which is chemically identical to gasoline and diesel. This means it could be pumped directly into pipelines with petroleum-based fuel, something which would be a seriously big deal. First they process out the protein for use in food products, then convert what remains into biofuel. Here’s the kicker. If PetroAlgae’s assertions hold true, the cost of fuel production is essentially paid for by the revenue from food and feed products, meaning that their microbe-derived fuels will remain competitive with fossil fuels, at any [...] Desert Biofuels Initiative, Inc. is a Phoenix, Arizona-based non-profit social venture aimed at advancing the development of a robust sustainable biofuels infrastructure in the Sonoran Desert region, throughout the U.S., and around the globe. Let Desert Sweet Biofuels explain, they’ve switched from raising shrimp in the desert to producing algae for biofuel. It is [...] OriginOil may have found a more efficient and cheaper to separate oil from algae. They use ultrasound and electromagnetic pulses to break down cell walls. MIT Tech Review Then the algae solution is force-fed carbon dioxide, which lowers its pH, separating the biomass from the oil. Not only is this much simpler than [...] |  | ||||
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