Environment

EPA: Algae as Advanced Biofuel

by Scott Wu | July 28, 2009 at 03:39 pm

197 views | 17 Recommendations | 5 comments

EPA will count algae as an advanced biofuel in the renewable fuels standard, responding to the growing interest, encouraged by Exxon Mobil and Dow Chemical. Exxon announced its plans to invest $600 million partnering with Synthetic Genomics, and Dow will partner with Algenol Biofuels.

Biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol, sugar-cane ethanol and even biodiesel were envisioned in the RFS – but algae was absent.

Why do EPA’s steps towards including algae matter? Because when Congress created its mandate to blend advanced biofuel into the fuel pool, it created a big market for these fuels. By 2012, the law mandates that two billion gallons of these advanced biofuels be blended, a figure that rises by tenfold by 2022. It’s all in Section 202 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

Algae is considered to be a "promising feedstock", said EPA fuels official Sarah Dunham.

Algae is a particularly tempting feedstock choice because it can be engineered to sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and because algae-based biofuel has a similar molecular structure to gasoline, allowing it to be used in the existing transportation infrastructure.

Advancement in algae-based biofuels are expected to supplement or replace corn-based ethanol. Other research firms are actively in developing commercially viable models. Joule Biotechnologies claims to have developed a microorganism which converts carbon dioxide into ethanol through photosynthesis. They also claim that their first Solar Converter will be operational by 2010.

All these may sound too good to be true, and these claims are indeed confronted with skepticism by the green community. Only time will tell if these claims will ever materialize.

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Paschen

at 16:28 on July 28th, 2009

That may be an alternative and it may help. However it is not the solution nor the miracle cure.

Massive cultures of algae will have consequences as well and a negative impact on the ecosystem.

All things in moderation and kept in balance work to a point. the Excesses and industrialization is what will kill us in the long run.

Spydermonkey

at 19:01 on July 28th, 2009

Algae is one of the pieces of the puzzle but, alone it can't solve all our problems.

Most of the systems that are being proposed are closed systems, with little exposure to the outside enviroment. They don't want to contaminate the feed stock & get other algeas mixed in.

And yes, "All things in moderation and kept in balance work to a point" that should be our goal (as engineers for sure)

ulmarrcall (not verified)

at 13:30 on July 29th, 2009

community forcings browsers degree rise summary

158

at 13:31 on July 29th, 2009

Sounds like a god idea.

Michaela Davies (not verified)

at 09:33 on August 7th, 2009

Yeah, Algae got the EPA's A-OK! One of the problems with algae biofuel, and most other biofuels, is the space and water required to grow them. Check out these vertical bioreactors that can be deployed on non-arable land, and requires very little water due to its closed circuit process. There's a video and pictures at Valcent's site.