algae power

Discussion in 'More Serious Topics' started by Joeslogic, Apr 24, 2008.

  1. Joeslogic

    Joeslogic Active Member

    Messages:
    8,426
  2. phatboy

    phatboy New Member

    Messages:
    6,956
    Mother fucker. Just copy and paste the text, I dont want to be surfing the internet looking shit up. DAMN!!!


    :)
     
  3. Joeslogic

    Joeslogic Active Member

    Messages:
    8,426
    Haha! Lazy mutha fucka!



    Solazyme, a startup based in South San Francisco, CA, has developed a new way to convert biomass into fuel using algae, and the method could lead to less expensive biofuels. The company recently demonstrated its algae-based fuel in a diesel car, and in January, it announced a development and testing agreement with Chevron. Late last year, the company received a $2 million grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop a substitute for crude oil based on algae.

    The new process combines genetically modified strains of algae with an uncommon approach to growing algae to reduce the cost of making fuel. Rather than growing algae in ponds or enclosed in plastic tubes that are exposed to the sun, as other companies are trying to do, Solazyme grows the organisms in the dark, inside huge stainless-steel containers. The company's researchers feed algae sugar, which the organisms then convert into various types of oil. The oil can be extracted and further processed to make a range of fuels, including diesel and jet fuel, as well as other products.

    The company uses different strains of algae to produce different types of oil. Some algae produce triglycerides such as those produced by soybeans and other oil-rich crops. Others produce a mix of hydrocarbons similar to light crude petroleum.

    Solazyme's method has advantages over other approaches that use microorganisms to convert sugars into fuel. The most common approaches use microorganisms such as yeast to ferment sugars, forming ethanol. The oils made by Solazyme's algae can then be used for a wider range of products than ethanol, says Harrison Dillon, the company's president and chief technology officer.

    What's more, the algae has a particular advantage over many other microorganisms when it comes to processing sugars from cellulosic sources, such as grass and wood chips. Such cellulosic sources require less energy, land, and water to grow than corn grain, the primary source of biofuel in the United States. But when biomass is broken down into sugars, it still contains substances such as lignin that can poison other microorganisms. In most other processes, lignin has to be separated from the sugars to keep the microorganisms healthy. But the tolerance of the algae to lignin makes it possible to skip this step, which can reduce costs.

    The process also has significant advantages over a quite different way of using algae to create biofuels--one that makes use of algae's ability to employ sunlight to produce their own supply of sugar, using photosynthesis. In these approaches, the algae are grown in ponds or bioreactors where they are exposed to sunlight and make their own sugar. In Solazyme's approach, the researchers deliberately turn off photosynthetic processes by keeping the algae in the dark. Instead of getting energy from sunlight, the algae get energy from the sugars that the researchers feed them.


    [1] 2 Next
     
  4. phatboy

    phatboy New Member

    Messages:
    6,956
    Very interesting. I notice no mention of 'retrofitting' the diesel motors to run on the fuel produced by this process. That would be great too.

    I am still pissed at Xethanol for their lies.

    NutraSweet uses a MicroOrganism that they feed sugar to, to make aspartame.

    Well L-Phe, then they mix that with aspartic acid to make aspartame, but im just a computer guy so I dont know the complete details of it...
     
  5. Nauseous

    Nauseous Active Member

    Messages:
    10,886
  6. phatboy

    phatboy New Member

    Messages:
    6,956
    When I worked there it was amazing how bad the place smelled. Just a horrific musty death smell. Probably like that old hotel you posted pics of. If 100 people died and rotted in it.
     
  7. Nauseous

    Nauseous Active Member

    Messages:
    10,886
    You've worked in some horrible places. I thought working at Chuck E Cheese was bad...
     
  8. phatboy

    phatboy New Member

    Messages:
    6,956
    The place Im at now is pretty freaking cool.

    We make, Ammonia, Ammonium Nitrate, Acid (all kinds), urea and thats not including all the stuff we make from the by-products.

    This is just at our plant. The company itself has plants all over this hemisphere.

    I like to say we are the people that make things go boom (and everything else)....
     
  9. Nauseous

    Nauseous Active Member

    Messages:
    10,886
    Hey, you must work with my liver.
     
  10. phatboy

    phatboy New Member

    Messages:
    6,956
    Yes, it misses you. Its very hard to get a hard hat to stay on it.

    :)
     

Share This Page