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OSU
works to turn algae into biodiesel
Researchers:
Pond scum has promise
PORTLAND (AP) — “Pond scum” biodiesel? There are plenty of
nicknames for algae, but it is one of the more plentiful natural crops
in the world, and now it is being considered as a potential fuel source.
Technology
to massproduce algae and extract its oils could be five to 10 years in
the future, but the advantages would be worth the wait, says Ganti
Murthy, an assistant professor of biological and ecological engineering.
“In a closed growing system,” Murthy said,
“algae require 99 percent less water than any other crop.”
Algae can be found nearly everywhere, and it does not
require a choice between food and fuel, such as converting corn into
ethanol does.
“Algae can be grown using wastewater and in areas
that cannot support agriculture,” Murthy said.
Varieties of the organism have been fou nd flourishing
in fresh and salt water and all kinds of environments, from the
Highly
productive
Algae also are highly productive compared with
conventional crops. For example, a productivity model estimates that 48
gallons of biodiesel can be produced from an acre of soybeans. Algae
could produce 819 gallons in a single acre, and theoretically as much as
5,000 gallons.
One of algae’s most remarkable qualities is that it
can thrive on greenhouse gases from industry and coal-fired electrical
generating plants. Waste carbon dioxide can be piped to algae ponds,
where the gas is a necessary ingredient for growth and can even
accelerate it by up to 30 percent.
Murthy has built two small experimental
photobioreactors to grow microscopic algae in a closed system at OSU’s
Sustainable Technologies Laboratory in
The reactors are simple plastic cylinders that have
advantages over an openpond system in greater productivity, reduced
contamination and better control of growth.
It takes about three weeks for the algae, combined
with light, water, carbon dioxide and mineral nutrients, to multiply and
turn the water green.
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