Marine Algae biofuel looks feasible in the near future
Shell is looking into a new process of getting biofuel from marine algae. Take a look at some of the benefits we could expect from this process (my emphasis).
“We have good confidence that it’s very viable,” said Ed Shonsey, chief executive officer of HR Biopetroleum, a company that is partnering with Shell on the project. That includes believing the processes can eventually produce oil for $30 to $50 a barrel.
“It’s looking extremely good.”
The marine algae gets a much better yield than many plants. Where the highest producing oil palm farmers get 600 gallons an acre per year, algae can produce 5,000 to 8,000 gallons per acre annually, Shonsey said.
Moreover, algae proponents note it has the attractive environmental side effect of being able to absorb carbon dioxide waste from industrial facilities such as power plants. Thus it’s hoped the production of biodiesel and other fuels from algae could reduce global-warming emissions if paired with a nearby power plant.
“That’s the exciting thing about algae and why everyone is so interested,” Shonsey said. “It’s ideal for Hawai’i because no fresh water is required, no ag land is required and it cleans up the environment.”
$30 to $50 a barrel? None of our scarce freshwater required? Doesn’t use up any agricultural land? Sounds like a pretty good idea.
However, if the US was ever to switch over totally to this type fuel to replace oil, it would need a whole lot of space. If you put our yearly consumption of oil at 7.6 billion barrels/year, we would need roughly 40,000,000 acres of algae to produce this amount. Just to give you an idea, that’s a little bit smaller than the state of Missouri.
Now there are many ways that you could fix this problem of land. One way would be to just build up rather than out. Make algae farm skyscrapers that are next to power plants and then just pump the CO2 into the building. Save land and energy companies can make a profit on their “waste.”
Another thing you have to take into account is that those 40 million acres would be enough to provide us with ALL of our oil needs. If we just used smaller amounts, than we wouldn’t need that much land.
