Soon Your Car Could Be Running On Algae
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Jul 24, 2008
You know that greenish tinge in parts of the lake this season? The same one that shows up in the swimming pool when you run out of chlorine - or in our fish tank if the filter shuts down? What if you could use that to run your car?
Some researchers believe that’s possible. And the state is considering a proposal from Maharishi University of Management to create an algae bioreactor.
MUM Professor Lonnie Gamble says it’s not about what the algae produce; it’s about what the algae is.
“It turns out that the bodies of algae are about 50 percent oil. We can make fuel from them, “ he said.
It’s possible to refine the oil into biofuel that can then power vehicles.
The current efforts are laboratory scale. The university wants to expand that to a quarter-acre greenhouse for the algae as a test site. Researchers believe industrial scale production will require sites of at least 100 acres.
Assistant Professor Jimmy Sinton directs the bioreactor project. He said the key for future use of algae is that the plant is not difficult to grow, nor is it difficult to understand.
The question is whether the process is in itself fuel efficient. There’s no net benefit if it takes more power to produce the algae biofuel than you get in return.
The good news is that it doesn’t take much to grow the algae. Algae farmers don’t need much space, either. Rooftop farms are possible, and urban production is viable in the long term.
Both Gamble and Sinton say the process is close to carbon neutral. That means it produces as much carbon as a fuel as it removes while it grows. It’s a trade-off.
