Photo: seaspout.wordpress.com
While the idea of pressure cooking algae until it turns into crude oil is not an entirely new concept, and it has been done before, it didn`t take one minute to obtain results, which is exactly what chemical engineering professor, Phil Savage and doctoral student Julia Faeth did.
They pressure cooked microalgae in sand for about one minute, and managed to convert some 65% of the algae straight into oil. What they have done is basically cheat nature and achieve what normally took millions of years and massive pressure. The latest results represent considerable progress over their previous findings, because at first it took them about half an hour to convert just 50% of the algae.
Also, the process would greatly benefit from the use of wet algae, and researchers are now exploring ways to get wet algae to cost less than the dry variety - currently, a gallon of ‘biocrude’, made from dry algae costs $20, which still doesn`t make it feasible, but in time technology will move on, and this is one more alternative which may finally wean us off fossil fuels.
Story via wired.com
Also, the process would greatly benefit from the use of wet algae, and researchers are now exploring ways to get wet algae to cost less than the dry variety - currently, a gallon of ‘biocrude’, made from dry algae costs $20, which still doesn`t make it feasible, but in time technology will move on, and this is one more alternative which may finally wean us off fossil fuels.
Story via wired.com
Google News