Biocrude? Algae-to-oil project aims to deliver

[boise1]

U.S. Energy Dept., company partner to seek cost-effective production

MSNBC
Updated: 5:33 a.m. MT Oct 27, 2006

A California company and a Department of Energy research lab have announced that they're teaming up to make oil out of algae — a potential fuel source that would be low on greenhouse gas emissions tied to warming.

LiveFuels Inc. says it will fund dozens of projects at Sandia National Laboratories with the aim of producing economically feasible "biocrude," aka biodiesel, by 2010.

Sandia's investment in related research goes back five years, says Grant Heffelfinger, a senior manager at the lab, providing time to build up expertise in "the challenge of understanding how and under what conditions" the process will work.

Algal oil is similar to soybean oil, which can also be used to produce biodiesel, but can be grown on marginal lands unsuitable for food crops and even in brackish water, LiveFuels said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15250836/

[HereSince1628]

1. So, do we know that "marginal land" as wetlands?

Are those brackish water areas what we call estuaries and embayments?


Just wondering.

[kestrel91316]

2. Oh, probably. You know - that USELESS land..................

[HereSince1628]

3. Yeah, useless.

Who needs THEM more than diesel fuel?

Crikey!

[boise1]

4. I don't know what DOE's definition of 'marginal' is

but as far as water supply/nutrient/growth media, Mike Briggs at the University of New Hampshire suggests here that human and animal waste streams be a good source.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Good wondering. nt

[leftupnorth]

6. I think algae is going to be big

but it's amazing how many people will poo-poo something before it even starts.

A world full of cynics, bitching at each other that things aren't exactly perfect, so it all sucks.

I think algae will turn co2 from a waste stream to a supply stream.