Posted on 07/20/2006 11:09:05 AM PDT by presidio9
A Spanish company claimed on Thursday to have developed a method of breeding plankton and turning the marine plants into oil, providing a potentially inexhaustible source of clean fuel.
Vehicle tests are some time away because the company, Bio Fuel Systems, has not yet tried refining the dark green coloured crude oil phytoplankton turn into, a spokesman said.
Bio Fuel Systems is a wholly Spanish firm, formed this year in eastern Spain after three years of research by scientists and engineers connected with the University of Alicante.
"Bio Fuel Systems has developed a process that converts energy, based on three elements: solar energy, photosynthesis and an electromagnetic field," it said in a press dossier.
"That process allows us to obtain biopetroleum, equivalent to that of fossil origin."
Phytoplankton, like other plants, absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. Scientists have examined the possibility of stimulating growth of the single cell plants as a means of reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
CO2, liberated by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, is widely held responsible for global warming.
Bio Fuel Systems said its new fuel would reduce CO2, was free of other contaminants like sulphur dioxide and would be cheaper than fossil oil is now.
"Our system of bioconversion is about 400 times more productive than any other plant-based system producing oil or ethanol," it said, referring to currently available biofuels made from plants like maize or oilseeds.
Bio Fuel Systems is working with scientists at the University of Alicante on the project. It has drawn up industrial plans to make the fuel and says it will be able to start continuous production in 14 to 18 months.
Wouldn't know, the lst movie I went to was about 50 years ago.
Actually, this is probably true. A couple of Israelis over the years found a way to turn garbage into recyclable crude.
Here's what they're not telling you, though. The process is NOT energy efficient. It probably takes as much energy, or more, to make the oil, as the oil is worth.
This kind of thing isn't new. As I said, the Israelis used heat and pressure to break down molecular bonds and then link hydrocarbon polymers. Whoop-de-doo, if it isn't an energy efficient process.
Ultimately, the only real way out of this is solar power, fuel cells and nuclear power. Nothing else would be efficient enough, of the stuff thats on the current horizon.
Unless someone has secretly developed a perpetual motion device, or mastered cold fusion.
NO WAR FOR KRILL!
OK, I take that back. Bottled water is more expensive than gasoline.
The University of New Hampshire is looking at similar technology:
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html
Plants already exist that produce power from methane gas. I once built a miniature replica when I was in high school, for a science project. It does work. Its just not efficient.
You need a vast garbage dump to power that kind of thing. And jokes about New York or San Francisco or Hollywood aside, it's just not a realistic possibility at the current stage of affairs.
You can produce oil from a lot of stuff. The Japanese and Israelis, the usual hi-tech suspects, have had ways for years. But they aren't efficient, and there's no obvious or clear way to make them more efficient.
Actually what egg is to chicken. All petroleum originates from saltwater algae and related life forms. It's amazing to me how many people don't know that.
I thought it came from dinosaurs.
There is also a species of algae that emits hydrogen gas instead of oxygen when deprived of sulfur. So not only could we make unlimited biodiesel from sunlight and saltwater but hydrogen fuel as well.
`So the pytoplankton absorb CO2 as they grow, reducing CO2 in the atmosphere. What happens when you burn the fuel?
I'm still waiting for the Spanish to prove they can make food from Paella.
Nope, not one drop.
I'm sure Lavoisier and equivalent exchange will dictate something has to be sacrificed in order of this to work.
Nothing is free, we often create more of a problem than a solution.
I refuse to believe you.
Google it then.
Here's a chocolate-covered girl....
I don't want to know otherwise. Next you'll be telling me we'll never be able to clone T-rexes from mosquitos trapped in amber.
Until there is verified cost data, this article is worthless. Alternatives that are far more costly than existing energy sources are magnets for governments subsidies and companies with lots of PR and red ink.
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