ALGAE:THE NEW SUPER FUEL!
A little-known yet long established industry in commercial algae farming is coming to the rescue of the increasing controversy surrounding biodiesel. Unlike crops such as soy, palm, corn and rapeseed, many strains of micro-algae contain as much as 70% oil - up to 25 times more than oil seed rape.
With increasing interest in biodiesel as an alternative to fossil fuel, many have looked at the possibility of growing more oilseed crops as a solution to the problem of peak oil, raising concerns over the displacement of food crops and rising feedstock prices.
Set to become the world’s first super fuel feedstock algae is also capable of absorbing nitrogen from wastewater and extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Algae needs just water, sunlight and nutrients to kick-start a happy oil-bearing life and can be grown in open ponds or sealed in clear tubes to produce far more oil per acre than soybeans
- a controversial source for biodiesel.
The many advantages of Micro algae include:
· All year cultivation and has a short life cycle
· The fastest growing plant on earth - 100 times faster than trees - typically doubling their weight everyday
· It requires only raw materials that are abundant: sunlight, water, carbon dioxide and nutrients
· They can grow in adverse conditions like deserts and saline waters
Traditional crops for biofuels would require almost all land currently in production to be given over to them, thus causing massive problems in the food supply chain. Algae require less than 1% of the land currently in food production to replace all currently used fuels. I’m sure there will be problems to overcome, but this has the look of true sustainability……………
Phil & the Get Ethical Team
(via The Get Ethical Blog) 4 years ago • Notes