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Algae of the Future - 12/12/08

Could this tiny plant get us off foreign oil someday?

Michael Webber, a professor at the University of Texas says the biggest challenge is price. Algae can currently make biodiesel for around $10 per gallon. The objective is to get the price down to $1 per gallon.

The University of Texas has the world’s largest algae collection with 3,000 different strains. Algae are currently used in vitamins and other nutritional supplements. Currently the price to convert algae into biodiesel is too high and the scale is much too small to help the energy needs of the nation.

Mr. Webber said their goal is to take what they currently know about algae to produce it at a much larger scale and better prices for energy use.

Algae is a better candidate for the production of fuel over ethanol for numerous reasons. The energy and emissions required to grow algae is lower than crops producing ethanol. Algae can grow faster than corn. Biodiesel produced from algae can be transported in pipes where ethanol must be trucked.

Texas is one of the best places to produce algae because it has three ingredients algae needs to grow in abundance: sunlight, carbon dioxide (Texas is the nation’s largest emitter), and brackish water.

Mr. Webber said Biodiesel plants using algae could be located near water treatment plants to clean up the water while providing fuel.

Biodiesel plants using algae can also be located near coal burning plants using their carbon dioxide to promote the growth of algae for fuel.

Interest is building in the algae to biodiesel concept.

Start making your own biodiesel fuel for only 70 cents a gallon! - Fuelmeister Biodiesel Processor

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