After my last post I found myself contemplating algae and
its apparent valuable uses as listed on the previously posted link to the Solix website. This page explains the
major highlights of algae and what it can be used for. Two major products that
can be created from algae are oil (used to make biodiesel and bio-jet fuel), as
well as animal feeds from the remaining biomass. It can also be used for bio-derived
chemicals, antioxidants, proteins, pigments, and fertilizers. I feel that currently algae is the most
feasible option for producing a sustainable and green fuel but, I wonder how
efficient of a producer it is? Can algae out produce terrestrial plants? Is it
a sustainable option and is it really greener than fossil fuels? These are all
questions I would like to answer so I continued to search the Internet and
library sources for information.
I discovered two articles published on sciencedaily.com discussing algae and its’ production. The first, published
in 2009, briefly describes a more efficient method for processing biodiesel. It
also claims that algae is capable of producing 100 to 300 times the amount of
oil per acre, when compared to soybeans, and the most promising replacement for
transportation fuels. That is definitely what i was looking for but I am still curious about cost of production and if it is truly sustainable.The second article was published in 2012 and, titled
Algae Biofuels: The Wave of the Future. It explained that algae production uses
CO2 where harvesting fossil fuels only creates more CO2,
an obvious bonus for algae. It also described the newly created genome on a
species of marine algae that supposedly has the lipid yields required to
produce algae-biofuel on an industrial level. The second article strengthens the argument and offers confidence to the reader. Why would anyone spend the money to genetically engineer algae unless it was going to change the world or make them rich?
Once i noticed the articles were only 3 years apart I started to question that validity of them. I immediately wondered how much energy is required to grow algae? Is it truly a cleaner fuel or sustainable? Has research answered these questions yet? I wanted to check another source so I went to npr.org and searched “algae biofuel”. I found an audio clip posted in 2012 and titled, "Algae As Car Fuel: Possible, But Not Sustainable?" The recorded discussion explained how it will be complicated to make algae sustainable when it is on a large scale because of the energy requirements for growing, harvesting, and processing the algae. The production of the algae also requires large tracts of land and equally large quantities of nutrients. One speaker also claimed that large-scale competitive production would take decades.
The audio clip from npr.com completely contradicts the views of the two articles from sciencedaily.com making me feel like my questions were answered but I am no closer to a conclusion. If it requires so much water I wonder if algae can be grown in sections of ocean thus, avoiding the need for land usage and water circulation(primary use of power in processing)? What could be the repercussions on the ocean and environment if this were possible? Would the world be trading pollution of air for pollution of the ocean? I supremely doubt algae's viability at this point but i looked up a video on youtube.com called "Algae to Biofuel" and posted it below. It shows how algae is produced and discusses some of the options for producing it. After watching the video I feel like it addresses some of the problems that are presented in the audio clip. I still wonder if there may be a better option or if algae will progress to be the solution?
Once i noticed the articles were only 3 years apart I started to question that validity of them. I immediately wondered how much energy is required to grow algae? Is it truly a cleaner fuel or sustainable? Has research answered these questions yet? I wanted to check another source so I went to npr.org and searched “algae biofuel”. I found an audio clip posted in 2012 and titled, "Algae As Car Fuel: Possible, But Not Sustainable?" The recorded discussion explained how it will be complicated to make algae sustainable when it is on a large scale because of the energy requirements for growing, harvesting, and processing the algae. The production of the algae also requires large tracts of land and equally large quantities of nutrients. One speaker also claimed that large-scale competitive production would take decades.
The audio clip from npr.com completely contradicts the views of the two articles from sciencedaily.com making me feel like my questions were answered but I am no closer to a conclusion. If it requires so much water I wonder if algae can be grown in sections of ocean thus, avoiding the need for land usage and water circulation(primary use of power in processing)? What could be the repercussions on the ocean and environment if this were possible? Would the world be trading pollution of air for pollution of the ocean? I supremely doubt algae's viability at this point but i looked up a video on youtube.com called "Algae to Biofuel" and posted it below. It shows how algae is produced and discusses some of the options for producing it. After watching the video I feel like it addresses some of the problems that are presented in the audio clip. I still wonder if there may be a better option or if algae will progress to be the solution?
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