The future of fuel will arrive next year

[HoosierRon]

Ethanol from seawater and algae gains large investment: a Biofuels Digest profile of Algenol

One billion gallons of ethanol per year by 2012 are projected from a (near $1 billion) new technology facility being constructed in the Sonora desert area of NW Mexico by Mexico-based BioFields. 1000 gal capacity transparent bioreactors have five inputs: Algae, sunlight, CO2, nutrients and seawater. Outputs are: ethanol, oxygen and freshwater.

The things not needed for the process, developed by Algenol Biofuels of Baltimore, are arable land, harvesting, large amounts of fossil fuel, fossil based fertilizer or lots of fresh water. Algenol estimates the energy balance, i.e., the ratio of energy out vs. energy in will be greater than 8:1 which compares with 1.35:1 for corn ethanol.
...
Initial production in 2009 is planned for 100 million gal/yr.

Among interesting data developed by Algenol and made available to Automotive Industries by spokesperson Evan Smith, is an ethanol production rate already achieved of 6000 gal/acre/yr. Algenol data reports this compares with 370 gal/acre/yr for corn ethanol and 850 gal/acre/yr for sugarcane ethanol. The 6000 gal/acre/yr production rate is based on test operation of a prototype 1000 gal. bioreactor unit

[Hurricane]

Originally Posted by HoosierRon

Ethanol from seawater and algae gains large investment: a Biofuels Digest profile of Algenol

Holy cow!!!

By the way, what is 1 billion gallons in barrels?

[HoosierRon]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

Holy cow!!!

By the way, what is 1 billion gallons in barrels?

There are 42 gallons in a barrel.

Note that you get about 19 gallons of gasoline from a barrel of oil.

[jorgesalazar521@msn.com]

now if we didn't have $4 gas then this tech according to industry would be 20 to 30 years away. Just like gm suddenly had many fuel ifficient vehicles (xfe) and others 6-speed trannies and lr-tires. Wow GM what persuaded you to find tech for today.
$5 gas makes sense, since it will force many new tech's to open up ($$$$$) and then 3-5 yrs. the market will be flooded and force prices to go down to <1$ -gas.
hopefully americans will remember to vote with $$$ for american technologies

[HoosierRon]

Originally Posted by jorgesalazar521@msn.com

now if we didn't have $4 gas then this tech according to industry would be 20 to 30 years away. Just like gm suddenly had many fuel ifficient vehicles (xfe) and others 6-speed trannies and lr-tires. Wow GM what persuaded you to find tech for today.
$5 gas makes sense, since it will force many new tech's to open up ($$$$$) and then 3-5 yrs. the market will be flooded and force prices to go down to <1$ -gas.
hopefully americans will remember to vote with $$$ for american technologies

Next up: every manufacturer will make every vehicle Flex Fuel, and every gas station will have an E85 pump.

[377Z]

What a surprise that this doesn't make headlines in the mainstream...

[PhishPhood]

Originally Posted by Hurricane

Holy cow!!!

By the way, what is 1 billion gallons in barrels?

Promising innovation but it's still a tiny drop....

Look at these numbers...
The US uses 20 million barrels per day of oil.... 20 mmbpd Source: EIA
One barrel of oil produces about 20 gal of gasoline and 7 gal of diesel.
Thus we use 400,000,000 gal of gasoline every day plus 140,000,000 gal of diesel every day.
Over the course of 1 year we use 144,000,000,000 gal + 50,500,000,000 = 195 Billion gallons.

If this technology, 6000 gal / acre / yr, were extended to 1000 acres...it would produce 6,000,000 gal of bio ethanol per year.

Thus this plant at 1000 acres would replace ..... ready...... less than ONE minute of our daily usage. 6 Million / 195 Billion.

[nadepalma]

Encouraging to be sure, but too soon to uncork the champagne. I hope that all these companies and their investments pay off so we dont have to send more money overseas.

We still need to find a way to transfer any ethanol blend efficiently since they can't be pushed through a pipeline like oil. But still, if they can get ethanol more cheaply - any kind of cellulosic ethanol that uses non-food stock as its main ingredient would be good - I think it could definitely be a great short-to-medium term solution.

[fp115]

Originally Posted by PhishPhood

Promising innovation but it's still a tiny drop....

Look at these numbers...
The US uses 20 million barrels per day of oil.... 20 mmbpd Source: EIA
One barrel of oil produces about 20 gal of gasoline and 7 gal of diesel.
Thus we use 400,000,000 gal of gasoline every day plus 140,000,000 gal of diesel every day.
Over the course of 1 year we use 144,000,000,000 gal + 50,500,000,000 = 195 Billion gallons.

If this technology, 6000 gal / acre / yr, were extended to 1000 acres...it would produce 6,000,000 gal of bio ethanol per year.

Thus this plant at 1000 acres would replace ..... ready...... less than ONE minute of our daily usage.

How much of this is actually used by cars?

[HoosierRon]

Originally Posted by PhishPhood

Promising innovation but it's still a tiny drop....

Look at these numbers...
The US uses 20 million barrels per day of oil.... 20 mmbpd Source: EIA
One barrel of oil produces about 20 gal of gasoline and 7 gal of diesel.
Thus we use 400,000,000 gal of gasoline every day plus 140,000,000 gal of diesel every day.
Over the course of 1 year we use 144,000,000,000 gal + 50,500,000,000 = 195 Billion gallons.

If this technology, 6000 gal / acre / yr, were extended to 1000 acres...it would produce 6,000,000 gal of bio ethanol per year.

Thus this plant at 1000 acres would replace ..... ready...... less than ONE minute of our daily usage.

Did you read the article? This one facility is going to produce one billion gallons of ethanol per year by 2012.

[geozinger]

Originally Posted by nadepalma

Encouraging to be sure, but too soon to uncork the champagne. I hope that all these companies and their investments pay off so we dont have to send more money overseas.

We still need to find a way to transfer any ethanol blend efficiently since they can't be pushed through a pipeline like oil. But still, if they can get ethanol more cheaply - any kind of cellulosic ethanol that uses non-food stock as its main ingredient would be good - I think it could definitely be a great short-to-medium term solution.

(My bold for emphasis) You sure can ship ethanol by pipeline like oil, you just can't do it in the pipelines meant for oil. That's been one of the arguments against adopting ethanol as a fuel. With the right type of pipeline you could ship ethanol anywhere. However, I'm reasonably sure it would have to be dedicated to ethanol only, and probably have different safeguards and technologies applied to it.

I too, would like to see a larger adoption of ethanol as a motor fuel. We can make it here, and keep our money here, too. Particularly, non-feed stock based methods of production would be ideal, and remove that argument against ethanol.

Besides, I would love to be able to fill up with 100 octane E85 or E100 in a car that has an engine optimized for ethanol.

Hey, GM can you put a Saab Bio-Power Ecotec in my next car?

[PhishPhood]

Originally Posted by fp115

How much of this is actually used by cars?

All of it.

This is just our usage of gasoline ( 400 million daily ) and diesel fuel ( 140 million daily ) which have almost no other use than to power our vehicles.

Here's the break down of what we get out of a gallon of oil. 42 gal of oil produce...

One barrel of crude oil, when refined, produces about 20 gallons of finished motor gasoline, and 7 gallons of diesel, as well as other petroleum products. Most of the petroleum products are used to produce energy. For instance, many people across the United States use propane to heat their homes and fuel their cars. Other products made from petroleum include: ink, crayons, bubble gum, dishwashing liquids, deodorant, eyeglasses, records, tires, ammonia, and heart valves.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfa...l.html#Howused

~20 gal of gasoline
~ 7 gal of diesel fuel
the rest is jet fuel, heating oil and a variety of other minor uses for the products noted above.

[elderon]

Sure this may be a drop in the bucket right now, but in time with enough plants like these......

[PhishPhood]

Originally Posted by elderon

Sure this may be a drop in the bucket right now, but in time with enough plants like these......

Good point.. how many 1000 acre plants ( @ $1 Billion each ) would be needed to cut our oil usage by say 20%?
.
.
.
.
Answer: almost 7,000 plants ( $7 Trillion )

[63GrandSport001]

Originally Posted by 377Z

What a surprise that this doesn't make headlines in the mainstream...

If this made mainsream media then it would likely kill the idea of drill here drill now.