Joule Unlimited On Track To Beat All Known Biofuel Processes

BioFuel Daily ^ | 2/25/2011 | Staff Writers

[r9etb]

Nope. This is direct conversion to diesel. No de-esterification or further chemical processing needed.

Here's a fun thought: capture CO₂ and cooling water from a coal-fired power plant, and feed it to these little critters....

[RGF]

I hope this works,but if my math is right it would take 15,000 acres to produce 15,000 bbl/day of diesel (say a conventional small oil field development)

[upsdriver]

Can they do it without being subsidized by the taxpayers?

[patton]

Yep - and it would be sulfer-free, too.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Here's a fun thought: capture CO2 and cooling water from a coal-fired power plant, and feed it to these little critters...."

I suspect that is (one of) the game plan(s).

[Wonder Warthog]

"I hope this works,but if my math is right it would take 15,000 acres to produce 15,000 bbl/day of diesel (say a conventional small oil field development)"

We've got lots of marginal/desert land available. And this would take way less land than to generate the equivalent amount of ethanol from corn.

[patton]

US Annual diesel consumption = 64,323,336,000 US Gallons
Divide by 15000 gal/acre

= 4,288,222 acres
divide by 665 acres/mile^2

=6,448 miles square
~a square, 80 miles to a side.

About 2X the size of WSMR.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Can they do it without being subsidized by the taxpayers?"

I haven' specifically looking into that question, but my impression is that thus far they have. Research is apparently being completely funded by venture capital.

[patton]

Can the bugs live in saltwater?

[Wonder Warthog]

"Can the bugs live in saltwater?"

Certainly, strains of cyanobacteria (which is what this group is using) CAN live in saltwater. Whether these genetically modified ones can do so, I have no idea. I didn't notice any mention of that capability in their publication.

But if you mean "in the wild", I doubt it, as they are tailored specifically for a very high CO2 feed rate and probably would be "outcompeted" by the wild strains in a different environment (aka "the ocean").

[Wonder Warthog]

"WSMR."

??? I'm not familiar with that acronnym. It refers to what??

[patton]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_Missile_Range

Scroll down and look at the picture on the right - it illustrates the sise of WSMR compared to NM. By my calculation, above, all of the diesel needs of the US could be met in an area twice that size.

The reason I asked about salt water is because NM is floatin, literally, on an ocean full of salt water. Fresh water, on the other hand, costs more. A lot more.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Scroll down and look at the picture on the right - it illustrates the sise of WSMR compared to NM. By my calculation, above, all of the diesel needs of the US could be met in an area twice that size."

AH! I've actually used the same comparison, but didn't connect the acronym to the full name.

"The reason I asked about salt water is because NM is floatin, literally, on an ocean full of salt water. Fresh water, on the other hand, costs more. A lot more.

Well, it depends. I grew up between the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. Lots of cheap fresh water there. In New Mexico, not so much....:^).

But since the "diesel gene trick" is using modified cyanobacteria, I'm sure they could come up with both salt and fresh water versions, since there are cyanobacteria native to both environments.

[piasa]

Another article on here somewhere mentioned subsidies