Cheaper Renewable Fuels: Is Algae the Missing Ingredient?

by Sarah Lozanova (Triple Pundit) ... “Not all algae can be lumped together,” says Paul Woods, CEO of Algenol, a biotechnology company that produces ethanol and other fuels. “There are lots of [algae-based biofuel] programs that use fresh water and open ponds that have high evaporation rates, even if they use brines. Algenol has a closed system. Ethanol evaporates. If we had an open system, we would lose all our product and because it is closed, it isn’t subject to evaporation.”
... Woods says the Algenol process has yielded over 10,000 gallons of fuel per year at its pilot-scale facility in Fort Myers, Fla. After ethanol is produced, waste algae is used to produce smaller amounts of jet fuel, diesel and gasoline.
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The Algenol process requires algae, saltwater and carbon dioxide. A natural gas power plant flue is an ideal source for the carbon dioxide required in the process. Instead of using a pond, the closed system occurs within a plastic bag.
“We have a 50-liter bag,” explains Woods. “We have a lot of them, and that’s a very small amount of culture to manage. We do all of our scale-up through replicating the same module over and over again. ” READ MORE