Green Oil! Algea breakthrough

[BHDOGS]

interesting prospect perhaps i can fill up my car with the green stuff haha


http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/busine...-1226615106973

A GROUP of Adelaide scientists is at the forefront of an international race to produce renewable biofuels from micro-algae on a commercial basis.

If successful, an $8 million algal biofuel demonstration project in Whyalla, spearheaded by tiny Adelaide-based research company Muradel, is expected to be the catalyst for a major new industry in South Australia.

Muradel chief technology officer Associate Professor David Lewis believes its revolutionary process will produce hundreds of millions of dollars worth of oil a year in South Australia within 20 years.

The Muradel development is also expected to help spark the rejuvenation of the regional community of Whyalla and become the hub of an integrated biofuels production facility using multiple feedstocks, including agave and wheat straw, to optimise its viability.

Success promises a game-changer for business in the battle against ever-rising costs and a reduction in the carbon footprint.

It also offers the potential to generate byproducts such as bio-plastics and feed for livestock and aquaculture.

Internationally renowned Adelaide scientist Professor Geoff Fincher is confident the world is on the cusp of an historic breakthrough as money pours into biofuel research because of the upside from achieving success.

"After relying on fossil fuels for 300 years, it's running out and it seems we are witnessing an historic moment in time," he said.

"We've got to show leadership to slow fossil fuel use and support sustainable fuels and companies have to look seriously at their fuel costs.

"We could produce all the biofuel to supply at least SA in Whyalla.

"We recognise the potential for this is huge . . . we are at the beginning of a major new industry."

The Muradel biofuels venture has reached this stage following more than 30 years of bio-prospecting for superior micro-algae strains by its Western Australian partner Murdoch University and a world technology breakthrough by University of Adelaide researcher Associate Professor Lewis.

He has dramatically improved the technology to produce biofuel from micro-algae, a concept that has been around for decades but which previously used too much energy and did not provide carbon savings compared with fossil fuel equivalents.

Muradel will start building Australia's first demonstration micro-algae conversion plant on the northern edge of Whyalla in the industrial estate next to One Steel in June.

It will grow the micro-algae in ponds and then process it into a biofuel very similar to oil.

The trial is aimed at demonstrating the viability of the technology and proving Muradel is investor-ready by the end of 2014. Muradel is then expected to become a commercial business by 2017.

The catalyst for Muradel's micro-algal biofuel demonstration plant in Whyalla is a $4.4 million investment in February by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency's (ARENA) Advanced Biofuels Investment Readiness Program.

Future partners in the wider Whyalla project are expected to include the newly established $32 million Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls led by director Professor Fincher. Another is AusAgave, owned by fellow South Australian Don Chambers, who has been assiduously developing an agave industry to use as a feedstock for biofuel production.

"We have achieved the best production rates of oil from algae grown in open saline ponds in the world, giving our partners confidence about creating commercial quantities of clean biofuel," Associate Professor Lewis said. "Micro-algae is a favoured source of alternative fuels because productivity is extremely high compared to land crops, although several other fuel sources are being considered."

Muradel has progressed from a concept five years ago to demonstrating the technical and economic feasibility of producing crude oil from algae.

It has operated a pilot plant near Karratha in northern Western Australia for the past two years.

Associate Professor Lewis said its next hurdle is to cut the cost of producing oil from micro-algae from $9.90 a litre in its Karratha trial to less than $1 a litre at Whyalla.

"We received the $4.4 million ARENA grant because we think we will get our cost of production down to less than $1 a litre," Associate Professor Lewis said.

He believes the Whyalla area is ideal for micro-algae production because it has the right climate and would not be competing with grain crops for food.

It is also close to the sea and industry, has a good workforce, enthusiastic leadership, good transport infrastructure and a large area of low-cost wasteland suitable for growing feedstocks.

Muradel is a joint venture between the University of Adelaide, Murdoch University and SQC (linked to Aban Australia), an offspring of India's largest energy infrastructure company and the main source of private funding. If the ARENA project is successful, they plan to start forming commercial ventures to build modules to produce micro-algae and consequently oil in the Whyalla area.

Associate Professor Lewis said a 750ha unit would be capable of producing 50,000 litres of diesel a week, enough to fuel a fair-sized trucking company.

"I'm hopeful that we will be producing renewable fuels from micro-algae at different locations around the world within 10 years," he said.

"It won't replace fossil fuel, but it will supplement it.

"Our aim is cost-parity with fossil fuel and half the carbon footprint.

"The impact would be decentralised fuel supply, low-carbon fuel at a parity cost for small to medium industry. It's feasible that Qantas could use biofuel for half its fuel requirement."

The second phase of the Whyalla project involves a $10 million integrated renewable energy facility involving the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls and AusAgave.

It is designed to fully utilise the plant, reduce its overheads and maximise the potential by using multiple feedstocks, including micro-algae, wheat straw and agave.

Under the centre's proposal, it plans to develop a program to showcase the Upper Spencer Gulf region as an integrated biofuel production facility to develop technologies than can be marketed around Australia and internationally.

The integrated approach at Whyalla enables co-generation of electricity to run the biofuel plant, while the partners are also considering solar, thermal and wind energy to reduce energy costs and the carbon footprint.

"Some of the largest global investors in the biofuels industry are the major oil companies, and micro-algae is favoured by many as a feedstock because it doesn't compete with food as a source like many other feedstocks," Professor Fincher said.

If everything goes to plan, the partners are confident that South Australian biofuels will fuel many hundreds of thousands of trucks, planes, ships and cars in future.

[2011G6E]

There's always been a certain suspicion that the "normal" reserves of crude oil are being replenished by a mass of bacteria deep within the Earth. The biota deep under the surface may actually be much more than all the life on the surface of the planet combined.

[mik]

i saw that article, as i have always thought , so many other alternatives to fuel the internal combustion engine, it is a versatile bit of machinery, i remember seeing an article with a bloke that had an early falcon wagon with a pot belly in the back , it ran on smoke !
good to see other alternative fuels happening .

[ryeman]

During wartime in Britain at least their cars ran on coal gas from that 'stove'.

[LG17]

Is it green oil 'cause it's made from green algae or is it green oil 'cause it's environmentally friendly?

[Jaxon]

If it becomes succesfull, one of the big refineries will buy it and shelve it.

[Nikked]

Originally Posted by Jaxon

If it becomes succesfull, one of the big refineries will buy it and shelve it.

Not necessarily...

Oil companies need to secure their future, and as such, the companies put money into the research of renewable/post-oil energy sources.

[Tonz]

Puts a whole new potential for DJR to bring out a green Falcon.

[jpblue1000]

Originally Posted by Jaxon

If it becomes succesfull, one of the big refineries will buy it and shelve it.

AS Nikked said the oil companies are actually funding this...well 'SQC (linked to Aban Australia), an offspring of India's largest energy infrastructure company' is anyway

JP

[MercurySilver]

Originally Posted by Jaxon

If it becomes succesfull, one of the big refineries will buy it and shelve it.

like browns gas

[jpblue1000]

Originally Posted by MercurySilver

like browns gas

browns gas was/is really a bit of a fantasy created by some fringe scientists and generally discredited by many 'real' scientists. It has been proven time and time again the browns gas or HHO principle uses more energy than it produces. To split the water molecule is incredibly energy intensive and continues to be the bugbear of the newer and more credible Hydrogen collection techniques.

Hopefully the algae oil is more than a fund raiser for those involved and does produce credible, useful and affordable alternatives.

JP

[last fairlane]

Mik
that steam car you are thinking of was Pritchards
back in the seventies
he had an XL Falcon that had a steam engine in it
he built it in his back yard at Bayswater in Melbourne

[mash again]

maybe the oil is actually Green in colour from the Algae!

[2011G6E]

Ah yes...coal gas generators. Big bag of gas on the back of a car (or the roof) and a smoldering gas producer hanging off the rear bumper. My late father used to have some photos of a few running around during WW2 here in Queensland.
He also had a photo...which I will have to dig up and scan in...of one that suffered what could be called a catastrophic failure and blew up just outside Childers where they lived...not pretty, but the occupants survived.

For many years the Stanley Steamer was the fastest car in the world back in the early twentieth century...beautiful car, but the starting procedure was, shall we say, long and involved while you wait for the head of steam to build up. Then you had the danger of explosion if the water ran too low.

Originally Posted by jpblue1000

browns gas was/is really a bit of a fantasy created by some fringe scientists and generally discredited by many 'real' scientists. It has been proven time and time again the browns gas or HHO principle uses more energy than it produces. To split the water molecule is incredibly energy intensive and continues to be the bugbear of the newer and more credible Hydrogen collection techniques.

Yep, I always laugh at those under bonnet hydrogen generators...they literally do nothing, and must consume more power than they would ever release, so you gain nothing. That's the massive problem with using hydrogen as a fuel source (beside the cryogenic storage needed and the problems of the size of the tank in a car you need for an adequate range)...it's energy negative and needs far more energy to produce than is ever contained in the end product.
BMW built a V12 7-series which was hydrogen powered...the photos of it getting built were amazing. The heavily insulated tank took up most of the area behind the rear seat and well into the boot leaving little luggage space, and the engines power, despite the best tech, was only equal to about a six cylinder BMW instead of the 12 cylinder output because of hydrogens low energy content.
It's not as easy as whacking a tank in the back and away you go...

[Franco Cozzo]

There was a 17 page thread on HHO on Fordmods forum about 5 years ago with people actually trying it on E series Falcons.

[neptune blue]

How many " breakthroughs" in alternative fuels have we seen in the last 20 years and how many of them have been cheap and plentiful enough to replace fossil fuels ? ZERO
I'll believe it when I'm filling up my car with the stuff

[cheap]

Originally Posted by neptune blue

How many " breakthroughs" in alternative fuels have we seen in the last 20 years and how many of them have been cheap and plentiful enough to replace fossil fuels ? ZERO
I'll believe it when I'm filling up my car with the stuff

And don't forget that there is the perpetual global conspiracy which has stopped every single one of those "breakthroughs" from reaching the market. The world truly sucks, full of bad people!

[mash again]

Good to know of more work "supposedly" happening in the area, there is also a solar pilot plant that got started and just sits there now due to some different understandings on what government funding was being paid. Will wait and see if anything eventuates, although there has just been (still) a large substation built for this area.