Producing Fuel from Algae

Last year I wrote that I felt Oil from Algae was the technology to watch.

Well Exxon is now investing $300 Million into research (Via SGI) in this technology. I consider Exxon to be "smart money".

SGI is harnessing photosynthetic microbes (i.e., algae) to produce a range of liquid fuels and chemicals directly from sunlight and carbon dioxide. Algae produce significantly higher amounts of biomass and oil as compared to terrestrial crops, can be grown on land that is not suitable for agriculture, can thrive in sewage or other types of waste water, and are efficient at capturing and recycling carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas.

Current methods to produce fuel from algae include processes that resemble farming. Algal cells are grown, harvested, and then bioprocessed to recover the lipids from within the cells. In contrast, in one of our solutions, SGI has engineered algal cells to secrete oil in a continuous manner through their cell walls, thus facilitating the production of algal fuels and chemicals in large-scale industrial operations. Our first product in this area is a biocrude to be used as a feedstock in refineries

Oil from Algae

With Oil prices hitting new highs there is lots of talk about alternate fuels. Ethanol from corn is a disaster and will not survive in the long run.

However, one biofuel I think has real potential is Oil from Algae. I like this concept because most of the oil we have today originated from ancient algae.

I like to keep things simple and quit trying to re-invent the wheel. Mother nature has been making oil for billions of years. Why don't we try and emulate mother nature and just speed it up.

The following is a video of an oil from algae experimental farm.



I will write more about this in the future.