Algae Is Not Endive: The Future of Biofuels in the United States

Researchers have developed an inexpensive way of producing microbubbles that can float algae particles to the surface of the water, making harvesting easier, and saving biofuel-producing companies time and money. (Credit: Stéphane Bidouze / Shutterstock)

Source: The Globalist (4 April 2012)

[Article Summarized by Meridian Institute] Using algae as a fuel source could be one way of getting closer to President Barack Obama’s goal of generating 80 percent of the United States’ power by 2035, and meeting the mandate of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act that requires 21 billion gallons a year of “advanced biofuels” being refined by 2022. One way of getting there is by finding and modifying bacteria and enzymes that can extract the sugar locked up in the cell walls of corn cobs, poplar trees, and some grasses. But the science is challenging, and it has proved difficult to convert the complex molecular structures into liquids in such a way that these biofuels can be produced cheaply enough to compete with gasoline. Algae is another track: using these tiny organisms that grow on sunlight and carbon, and store energy in the form of oil and starches, to make a “green crude.” More than 65 research institutions and dozens of companies are working toward the large-scale commercialization of such a fuel. And there are additional benefits to “green crude”: algae helps fight climate change as it absorbs carbon dioxide; and, it does not displace crops grown for food and cooking – unlike corn, soybeans, sugarcane, rapeseed and palm – the current sources of biofuels. Corn is reaching the upper limit of its ability to serve as a feedstock for energy, with 35 million acres worth of the crop going to ethanol refineries this year. Some experts estimate that algae could someday meet the nation’s fuel requirements on less than 10 million acres, including using desert lands on which no food is currently grown. Still, the industry is years away from producing commercial-scale quantities of fuel that can compete, on a cost basis, with gasoline, but the awareness is growing that biofuels could eventually be part of the world’s energy future. more

http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=9581