The Greenest Green Fuel

Hi,

This is quite interesting, but like most of these alternative fuels, there's just no take-up yet by the major players. How long will it be before we can use this? And it says in the article that it will be the same price as gasoline! Maybe when this was written, gas prices hadn't rocketed.

For an alternative solution, look at these articles:

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Gary.

I applaud Shell and Chevron for their foresight in making investments in algae oil companies (they both have). While it's possible that there is a mindset in existing oil companies that they should concentrate on what they already do (delivering petroleum products) rather than exploring alternate fuel production methods (much like Kodak moved slowly into digital cameras). I think that they will (eventually) figure out how to make a cost effective oil substitute (algae oil, thermal depolymerization, enzyme hydrolysys etc.)
What concerns me here, is that the "invisible hand" of the market may lag in it's path to the most efficient system (and damage our country and economy in the process); high oil prices are beneficial to oil companies (they make their profits as a percentage of oil prices, supply and demand benefits markets with low supply) so they might drag their feet in implementing a cheaper form of oil.
However, after some (more) quick research, it looks like algae oil isn't quite ready to go to your neighborhood station, as of November 2007, algae oil still cost about $20 a gallon.

Hi everyone,

My name is Sander Hazewinkel and currently my company is one of the largest "real" producers of marine algae in the world. We use state of the art closed systems that will outperform all the installations that I have seen on this website and that belong to the so called frontrunners. One of the things that really disturbs me,when I hear all these "pseudo" scientists claim enormous projected yields, is the energy cost that is involved in growing algae. I dare to state that it is impossible to gain a posititive energy balance with the production of algae. It's not the apparatus (toy) that you use to grow the algae that holds the solution to a positive energy balance. The problem is that the algae itself is not so efficient as some people want us to believe. I know from hands-on experience on a commercial production scale! But I also know and understand the math behind the problem. One of the people that describes a part of the math very much spot on is Krassen Dimitrov (google will find his article). If you are able to read some Dutch (google translate might be helpfull) you can read a presentation that I gave a couple of months ago for an organisation that is doing research on energy options for Afrika. www.fact-fuels.org/media_en/Presentation_Sander_Hazewinkel

It's not that i want to temper the enthusiasm for Algae, on the contrary! Algae are super as a nutrition (omega-3-fatty-acids, over 50% proteins, anti-oxidants and so on and on) all very important components for life and costing much more energy to produce otherwise than with algae.

So algae still hold a strong key to a more sustainable futere, but unfortunately not to a primairy source for energy!

I dare anyone to come-up with a complete lifecycle-anlysis on the production of algae that proves my point to be wrong and I dare to bet that nobody will come up with the whole (energy)cost figure because it is more sexy to talk about energyyields in stead of energy costs!

With kind regards,

Sander Hazewinkel

LGem, I think you are wrong, and just do not want them to find the answer here. If it were not possiable the testing process would not have come this far. And please do not try and say I do not know what I am talking about as I am former Sr. Site Manager for a biodiesel refinery, a 10 million gallon a year facility, that made the highest quality Biodiesel produced in North America. Weekly ASTM testing of our fuel proved that. And just because the technology is not quite there, does not mean it will not be someday soon. If they find a way to do this, it will very much negativly impact you company, and that is what you are afraid of. If the cost and balance of this goes down that will force the cost of your product to drop reducing your profit. I know your rebuttle will be, if the production cost drops you will make more money, but I do not believe that you want to lower the cost of your product or deal with the competition you will have if this happens.