Comments on: Algae biodiesel fuel: no longer a distant reality http://www.energyrefuge.com/blog/algae-biodiesel-fuel-no-longer-a-distant-reality/ Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:29:51 -0600 hourly 1 By: larry hagedon http://www.energyrefuge.com/blog/algae-biodiesel-fuel-no-longer-a-distant-reality/comment-page-1/#comment-3160 larry hagedon Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:53:19 +0000 http://www.energyrefuge.com/blog/?p=943#comment-3160 Algae has great potential and it will be brought to commercial production, but we need to get over the myth about corn, soybeans and sugar cane based ethanol competing with food. We need to process commodities like corn, cane and beans for all the products they contain, all the foods, animal feeds, pharmaceuticals, plastics, industrial chemicals, and fuels that can be produced from them. We are way below our potential production levels for corn, cane and beans now, with all markets saturated. We need to find more uses and markets for corn, cane and beans to allow us to take more acres out of federal subsidies and put them back in production. Of course, algae, if grown in reasonably clean water, produces a high protein food and feed supplement as a co-product of fuel, pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals. With algae fuel production, the food and feed markets will be massively saturated very quickly. Ethanol from corn or cane and diesel from beans is cheaper, cleaner and requires less water to produce than petroleum based products. There is no competition between food and fuel as both markets are saturated by supply and will remain so. We need to be allowed to run up to E40 in conventional vehicles. I and many others have run E-85 in older vehicles with no great problems, perhaps a bit slower to start in cold weather. Any blend up to E40 works great. larry hagedon Algae has great potential and it will be brought to commercial production, but we need to get over the myth about corn, soybeans and sugar cane based ethanol competing with food.

We need to process commodities like corn, cane and beans for all the products they contain, all the foods, animal feeds, pharmaceuticals, plastics, industrial chemicals, and fuels that can be produced from them. We are way below our potential production levels for corn, cane and beans now, with all markets saturated.

We need to find more uses and markets for corn, cane and beans to allow us to take more acres out of federal subsidies and put them back in production.

Of course, algae, if grown in reasonably clean water, produces a high protein food and feed supplement as a co-product of fuel, pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals. With algae fuel production, the food and feed markets will be massively saturated very quickly.

Ethanol from corn or cane and diesel from beans is cheaper, cleaner and requires less water to produce than petroleum based products.

There is no competition between food and fuel as both markets are saturated by supply and will remain so.

We need to be allowed to run up to E40 in conventional vehicles. I and many others have run E-85 in older vehicles with no great problems, perhaps a bit slower to start in cold weather. Any blend up to E40 works great.

larry hagedon

]]> By: Mark W. Fountain Hills, AZ http://www.energyrefuge.com/blog/algae-biodiesel-fuel-no-longer-a-distant-reality/comment-page-1/#comment-3101 Mark W. Fountain Hills, AZ Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:32:06 +0000 http://www.energyrefuge.com/blog/?p=943#comment-3101 We have to produce fuel without competing with food stocks, ie: corn, soybeans, sugarcane, etc. Algae is going to be available to everyone, everywhere, and at a conversion rate unlike anything else we have tried to date. It loves carbon dioxide, carbon-monoxide, and a host of other nasty things that get pumped into our atmosphere. Feed it to algae, and it loves it, and in return you get pure oxygen. Such a deal. We need to get Congress to convert the mandate regarding 7% of our fuel be ethanol by 2012. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and a step in the right direction: but today we know that it takes six bushels of corn, (competing with food stock) over six gallons of water, and more energy to produce that gallon of ethanol than it generates. Now that we know this, let's change the mandate to Biofuel, not ethanol, because ethanol makes no since with the current technology. Shift gears to what does make since, biofuel, and let's make a difference in the moment and the future. MW We have to produce fuel without competing with food stocks, ie: corn, soybeans, sugarcane, etc. Algae is going to be available to everyone, everywhere, and at a conversion rate unlike anything else we have tried to date. It loves carbon dioxide, carbon-monoxide, and a host of other nasty things that get pumped into our atmosphere.
Feed it to algae, and it loves it, and in return you get pure oxygen. Such a deal. We need to get Congress to convert the mandate regarding 7% of our fuel be ethanol by 2012. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and a step in the right direction: but today we know that it takes six bushels of corn, (competing with food stock) over six gallons of water, and more energy to produce that gallon of ethanol than it generates. Now that we know this, let’s change the mandate to Biofuel, not ethanol, because ethanol makes no since with the current technology. Shift gears to what does make since, biofuel, and let’s make a difference in the moment and the future. MW

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