Spanish scientists search for fuel of the future
March 31, 2011 by Virginie Grognou
A chemist quality controls fuel generated at Bio Fuel Systems in San Vicente del Raspeig in eastern Spain. Scientists in the region hope they have found the fuel of tomorrow: bio-oil produced with algae mixed with carbon dioxide from a factory.
In a forest of tubes eight metres high in eastern Spain scientists hope they have found the fuel of tomorrow: bio-oil produced with algae mixed with carbon dioxide from a factory.
Almost 400 of the green tubes, filled with millions of microscopic algae, cover a plain near the city of Alicante, next to a cement works from which the CO2 is captured and transported via a pipeline to the "blue petroleum" factory.
The project, which is still experimental, has been developed over the past five years by Spanish and French researchers at the small Bio Fuel Systems (BFS) company.
At a time when companies are redoubling their efforts to find alternative energy sources, the idea is to reproduce and speed up a process which has taken millions of years and which has led to the production of fossil fuels.
"We are trying to simulate the conditions which existed millions of years ago, when the phytoplankton was transformed into oil," said engineer Eloy Chapuli. "In this way, we obtain oil that is the same as oil today."
The microalgae reproduces at high speed in the tubes by photosynthesis and from the CO2 released from the cement factory.
Every day some of this highly concentrated liquid is extracted and filtered to produce a biomass that is turned into bio-oil.
The other great advantage of the system is that it is a depollutant -- it absorbs the CO2 which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.
"It's ecological oil," said the founder and chairman of BFS, French engineer Bernard Stroiazzo-Mougin, who worked in oil fields in the Middle East before coming to Spain.
"We need another five to 10 years before industrial production can start," said Stroiazzo-Mougin, who hopes to be able to develop another such project on the Portuguese island of Madeira.
Tubes filled with millions of microscopic algae are seen at the Bio Fuel Systems plant in San Vicente del Raspeig in eastern Spain. US oil giant ExxonMobil plans to invest up to $600 million in research on oil produced from algae.
"In a unit that covers 50 square kilometres, which is not something enormous, in barren regions of southern Spain, we could produce about 1.25 million barrels per day," or almost as much as the daily export of oil from Iraq, he said.
BFS, a private company, hopes to negotiate "with several countries to obtain subsidies for the installation of artificial oil fields," he said.
Other similar projects being studied in other parts of the world.
In Germany, the Swedish energy group Vattenfall last year launched a pilot project in which algae is used to absorb carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant.
US oil giant ExxonMobil plans to invest up to $600 million in research on oil produced from algae.
Companies, in particular those in the aeronautic sector, have shown keen interest in this research, hoping to find a replacement for classic oil.
(c) 2011 AFP
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Mar 31, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Anyway, all this being said, it does absolutely nothing for the cancer rate, smog, mercury in our fish and oceans, etc. Algea will not pull carcinogens, arsenic, mercury, SOx, NOx, etc out of the atmospher, only CO2. Not good enough of a solution.
Mar 31, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
That's like saying: "An improved battery does not help us eradicate racism - not good enough."
Is that really a logical argument?
What does this technology have to do with any of the things you cited?
Mar 31, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
I wouldnt go that far at all. I think a better example would have been:
- and yes, electric vehicals that get there power from coal plants is rediculous and not good enough.
Mar 31, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Not at all. A coal or oil power plant is a lot more efficient (and produces a lot less pollutants) than a gasoline engine in a car per kWh generated - even if we figure in transmission losses from the power plant to the car. Not optimal (alternative energy sources are, of course, preferrable) but still A LOT better.
Coal power plants can also be fitted (at least over here they are fitted) with exhaust gas treatment technologies which virtually eliminate or bind NOx, SOx and CO (CO2 content is, of course, nearly identical for both types of combustion). Again: not optimal but good enough until further solar/wind/wave plants come online.
Apr 01, 2011
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So then are you against hybrid vehicles? You must be an environmental purist.
Apr 01, 2011
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Apr 04, 2011
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Exactly, burning is a obsolete way of producing energy that has far reaching effects on both environment and health, far beyond the 5 out of 10,000 regulated chemicals.
I think I am willing to concede that they will at least be equal, maybe better. But we are already polluting far beyond what the human body or the planet can handle.
Again, 4 out of 10,000 chemicals, what about the rest? There have been no implemented solutions for SIGNIFICANTLY reducing CO2. best anyone has reduced CO2 is by 10%, and the modification costs 2 times the cost of original plant construction (plant Schere, Geogria-PAC injection).
Apr 04, 2011
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Apr 04, 2011
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-?? Why would they do that? They tripled their investment with zero return, why would they do that? Anyway, they would and often do tamper with pollution monitoring equipment.
Apr 04, 2011
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One the strangest responses to humor that I have ever encountered. I assume that you are kidding or do you really think that oil companies have space based laser weapons?
- Human based pollution only has two solutions: Technology or mass extermination. One will happen.
Apr 04, 2011
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Agreed.
-As a short term 5 year solution, no, long term, yes.