Posted on 03/02/2011 2:44:33 PM PST by Wonder Warthog
Joule Unlimited has invented a genetically-engineered organism that it says simply secretes diesel fuel or ethanol wherever it finds sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based company says it can manipulate the organism to produce the renewable fuels on demand at unprecedented rates, and can do it in facilities large and small at costs comparable to the cheapest fossil fuels.
Joule's process directly yields hydrocarbons that are fungible with existing diesel infrastructure, unlike the biodiesel product that is produced from algal oil.
Highlights include:
Based on empirical measurements, Joule can directly produce 15,000 gallons of diesel per acre annually, as compared to 3,000 gallons of biodiesel produced indirectly from algae.
The solar-to-product conversion efficiency of Joule's direct, continuous process for producing diesel, ethanol and chemicals is between 5 and 50X greater than any biomass-dependent process, and gains additional efficiencies by avoiding downstream refining.
Joule's combined advances in genome engineering, solar capture and bioprocessing result in photosynthetic conversion efficiency of more than 7% relative to available yearly solar energy striking the ground, many times greater than prior
http://www.jouleunlimited.com/faq/how-does-joule-calculate-potential-deliver-25000-gallons-ethanol-and-15000-gallons-diesel-acre-y
http://www.energydigital.com/sectors/biofuels/joule-unlimited-creates-biodiesel-ethanol-biofuel-without-feedstock
http://www.springerlink.com/content/j1414q2u5w25h788/fulltext.html
Last link is to a peer-reviewed paper describing the technology.
Ping to any of your lists that might have interest.
I hope this is true because if it is, it means that true energy independence is right around the corner.
“Joule was founded in 2007. In the last year, it’s roughly doubled its employees to 70, closed a $30 million second round of private funding in April and added John Podesta, former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, to its board of directors.”
Rest assured, it’s a scam!
Some sub-species of an extinct micro-organism is probably going to be affected at some unknown date in the future so no new processes or progress.
See that last link. It doesn't look like a scam to me.
Don’t let it out!
It’ll turn my pond into diesel fuel.
15,000 gals per acre per year of diesel. Roughly $45,000 per acre per year gross. I wonder what the operational costs are.
Probably about $160,000 per year, just to file the EPA paper work.
Interesting. Evidently still a private corporation. I don’t find the stock listed as yet.
Podesta may be a crook, but he has lots of connections on the left, which is probably what a “green energy” company needs for the permitting process. And I don’t suppose Podesta would have joined unless he gets big bucks for his services. Presumably a lot of stock options or something.
I’m going to guess they really mean “biodiesel” (carbohydrate oil) rather than hydrocarbon diesel. The former should be easy to get an organism to secrete, the latter would be very hard.
You’re probably right. A buck a page.
LOL
Imagine all the Co2 production with this massive amount of photosynthesis. I’m sure the EPA is drawing up regulations right now to shut it down.
Is Co2 good now or is it still bad to produce plant food?
So far all this stuff (solar, wind, etc.) has been BS. Let the market decide!
Funny, my wife says that I do the same thing.
What happens when it escapes into the wild?
Won’t catch on - the ag industry will fight it. They are getting fat off of the subsidies and mandates of the current “burn our food for fuel” policy.
Just like how the “Big 3” decimated the small upstart automakers soon after WWII that posed a “threat” to their dominance... even when some of those companies were WAY ahead of their time.
But I hope and pray that this “Joule Unlimited” is legitimate and can get rolling.
Just wait till these organisms mutate and gain enough stupidity to form a union. Then they’ll only want to produce two gallons of fuel per week.
Nope. This is direct conversion to diesel. No de-esterification or further chemical processing needed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.