Posted on 01/24/2007 12:18:48 PM PST by WestTexasWend
Pond scum may be an important component of the world's energy future.
Solix Biofuels Inc., a startup company based in Boulder, is working with Colorado State University engineers to commercialize technology that can cheaply mass produce oil derived from algae and turn it into biodiesel - an environmentally friendly solution to high gas prices, greenhouse gas emissions and volatile global energy markets.
Solix officials plan to commercialize the technology over the next two years. After ramping up to widespread production, the company expects to eventually compete commercially with the wholesale price of crude petroleum.
Were facing two global challenges: depletion of our petroleum reserves and a buildup of greenhouse gases, said Bryan Willson, director of Colorado State's Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory, which is helping Colorado State achieve its goal to lead the nation in developing and commercializing environmentally sustainable solutions to global problems. This process harnesses photosynthesis to turn carbon dioxide and energy captured from the sun into an economical petroleum substitute.
Algae are the fastest growing organisms on the planet, and can produce 100 times more oil per acre than conventional soil-tilled crops that are now being grown for biofuel use, said Solix founder Jim Sears.
Solix officials estimate that widespread construction of its photo-bioreactor system could meet the demand for the U.S. consumption of diesel fuel - about 4 million barrels a day - by growing algae on less than 0.5 percent of the U.S. land area, which is otherwise unused land adjacent to power plants and ethanol plants. The plants produce excess carbon dioxide, which is necessary to turn algae into oil. In addition to producing biodiesel, the process would prevent a large portion of the greenhouse gases produced by coal-burning power plants from being expelled directly into the atmosphere.
Algae to biofuel technologies are still being developed, yet a strong case can be made for global domestication of algae as an energy crop, said Doug Henston, chief executive officer of Solix. We want to manage this technology to create a business that will serve current and future energy stakeholders.
Colorado State and Solix officials are collaborating with New Belgium Brewing Co. to use excess carbon dioxide from the brewerys plant to test the algae-based biodiesel process.
Solix is one of many companies doing business in northern Colorado because of its leadership in attracting clean and renewable energy companies and technology.
This spring, Colorado State and Solix participated in the creation of the Northern Colorado Clean Energy Cluster, a clearinghouse that connects entrepreneurs and major power users with researchers and government officials, encouraging innovation, new job creation and investment in the region. The Clean Energy Cluster has already produced several technology transfer opportunities including a new collaboration between Colorado State University's Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory in the College of Engineering and Spirae Inc., a privately held company based in Fort Collins.
A majority of Colorado States eight colleges host faculty who are researching clean and renewable energy alternatives including Willson, who is a mechanical engineering professor in the College of Engineering. Also reinforcing the major role of Colorado State in the clean-energy arena is the recent formation of the Clean Energy Collaboratory between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Colorado State, Colorado School of Mines and the University of Colorado.
"Commercialization partners such as Solix are critical to the successful transfer of laboratory innovations to the marketplace, and with the tremendous entrepreneurial interest in the Northern Colorado region, we expect to see Colorado State participating in many more startups, said Mark Wdowik, vice president for Technology Transfer at Colorado State University Research Foundation - a private, non-profit foundation that aids the university in its research and educational efforts including the responsibility to protect and manage the intellectual property resulting from that research.
We have already seen evidence of earlier commercialization successes from the engines lab, including Envirofit, a not-for-profit corporation created to commercialize reduced emissions technologies created by Dr. Willson and his colleagues, and we expect more to come, Wdowik said.
The Solix collaboration is one example of Colorado State's emphasis, as stated in the university's Strategic Plan, to develop closer ties to the community and foster economic development via expeditious technology transfer and commercialization.
"Algae are the fastest growing organisms on the planet, and can produce 100 times more oil per acre than conventional soil-tilled crops"
Farmers can only work with the the top 6 inches of soil. How deep are the tanks for that 1 acre of alge? 10, 12 feet? How about using one of the tanks they now use to store oil? You can fit a lot more alge in 1 acre because you can work vertically.
That depends on which has a higher energy content... pond scum or Democrats.
I think that Democrats used as fuel would be a non-starter. Democrats are negative energy content.
It says pond scum, not @$$holes.
"If you had the proper permits, anyone with lets say 5 or more achers of land , could they build a pond with a small dam and use a small hydroelectric generator ?"
Probably. But you would need running water. A pond is stagnant and your paddle wheel would just sit there thinking about the mighty Colorado river!
:0)
"It says pond scum, not @$$holes."
Yep.
Now, if they were talking 'methane' that would be a different story!
It's still widely used (and actually in short supply) in Africa and less developed countries, but there's not much demand for manure as fertilizer in the US anymore. It brings in too many weed seeds, and chemical fertilizers are easier to put down and provide more uniform in coverage.
If it were feasible to use it as gasoline replacement it could lead to shortages, but they're using it to power an ethanol plant, and the TX panhandle's produces plenty for that...and then some.
The poster had stated could they 'build' a pond.
You don't need running water to 'build' a pond because if you hit the 'water table' the pond would eventually fill up, although not completely.
Now if the pond were built at the end of a running stream, then yes, a water paddle with a generator would work.
"The only problem I see in this, is when the water dries up."
Yep. Unless you build it on a mountain stream that is feed from either a glacier or permanent (semi?) snow cap.
Is there ongoing research on liquifying democrats?Now we're cooking with gasbags!Put a Traitor in Your Tank!
"Algae are the fastest growing organisms on the planet, and can produce 100 times more oil per acre than conventional soil-tilled crops"
Farmers can only work with the the top 6 inches of soil. How deep are the tanks for that 1 acre of alge? 10, 12 feet? How about using one of the tanks they now use to store oil? You can fit a lot more alge in 1 acre because you can work vertically
Actually these ponds are very shallow, typically about 12 inches deep. One of the most interesting facts that nobody talks about is that not only would the algae absorb carbon dioxide but it would give off as a product of growth, oxygen. Talk about clean.
"Algae are the fastest growing organisms on the planet, and can produce 100 times more oil per acre than conventional soil-tilled crops"
Farmers can only work with the the top 6 inches of soil. How deep are the tanks for that 1 acre of alge? 10, 12 feet? How about using one of the tanks they now use to store oil? You can fit a lot more alge in 1 acre because you can work vertically
Actually these ponds are very shallow, typically about 12 inches deep. One of the most interesting facts that nobody talks about is that not only would the algae absorb carbon dioxide but it would give off as a product of growth, oxygen. Talk about clean.
The same amount of sunlight per acre hits the top 1" of soil as hits a tank 100 feet deep full of algae. If {corn, soybeans, sugar cane, sugar beets, oil palms, etc} successfully converted 10% of the incident solar energy to useable fuel energy, how could the same area of algea ponds possibly do 100x better? There's only a factor of 10 left to reach 100% efficiency. One of two things is mistaken, either my recollection of 10% solar input: energy output with respect to food crops, or that algae is 100x energetically better than food crops are.
Congress generates a lot of hot air from pond scum, so if we could just harness that hot air....
If they get to 20% efficiency, that would be 100% more than before.
Pond scum?
What you hear is the sound of a shark jumping. The fuel diversity fad has reached critical mass. Willie Nelson is tipping over.
Doctor's appointment with my wife..........
The claim I quoted above was that algae produced "100x" more oil per acre than food crops, not "100%" more, which I agree would be 2x more. If I'm right that food crops are ~10% efficient, then it would mean algae is 1000% efficient, or 990% more than food crops are. Except that's physically impossible, so something must be wrong - me, or the claim.
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