Research the latest information about how scientists are trying to use algae for energy. Include how they think this new source of energy will help us decrease global warming.
Algae as Biofuel by Caleb McHyde Algae one day may be one part of the solution to our dependence of biofules. Algae are plants that can be found in coastal waters that take in CO2 and sunlight to grow. There are many types of Algae and included in these are some harmful algae like Cyanobacteria and Dinoflagellates [source: epagov.] Good algae are the major source of food for marine life and help put oxygen in the water. Cyanobacteria and Dinoflagellates have the ability to control their depth in the water, and so they kill all the other algae that are on the seafloor by not letting them get any sunlight [source: epagov]. They also take all the oxygen out so that the other algae die faster but it is dangerous because it can kill other aquatic life. After that take out competition they can get more nutrients and then make (HAB’s) Harmful algae Blooms. The HAB’s can release toxins and hurt the health of fishes and even humans and there has been little ways to get rid of it until now. Humans are now able to get oil out of the algae through a series of methods. The first and most common is expression which consists of which literally presses on it so that is lets out the oil. This form is usually used with other methods like Hexane which is a chemical solvent that can be put with the pulp that is left to extract additional oil after the expression method. When the oil is extracted it is referred to as “Green Crude” and not yet ready for use. The “Green Crude” has to go through a process called transesterification where the step adds more substances to the mix, including alcohol and a chemical catalyst that causes the alcohol to react with the oil which makes biodiesel and glycerol. Then a final process to separate glycerol from the mixture which leaves the biodiesel that can be used as fuel. Let us hope it kicks on and can help save our world. Sources: How Stuff Works: http://www.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/biofuels/convert-algae-to-biofuel.htm Cleantechnica: http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/04/green-algae-bloom-process-could-stop-global-warming/ Epa.gov: http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/climatehabs.pdf VDH: https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology/dee/HABS/harmful_algae/harmful.htm
Scientists have been searching for a renewable fuel source that will be efficient enough to stop the world from using petroleum-based fuels. This is especially true with ever-rising price of gasoline. Scientist have now come to the conclusion that algae biofuel would be an extremely efficient source of energy. Algae could be a fast and efficient solution to the modern fuel crisis. Algae can be mass produced easily. It only needs carbon dioxide, sunlight and water to grow. They grow quickly and in many different climates. Scientists claim that 1 acre dedicated to farming algae and making oil could produce 100,000 gallons of biofuel in one year. Algae is not only a fast fuel source. It is also an efficient one. More than %50 of algaes body composition consists of lipids (page 2, Newman). Most of these lipids reside in the cell wall of these organisms. The rest of an algae cell is mostly water. Scientists believe that this breakthrough in green fuel sources will help decrease global warming. This is due to the fact that this source of fuel is more ecologically sound because it consists of farming a rapid growing plant instead of digging fuels out of the ground. Global warming will also be decreased by the fact that algae bio-releases less heat than gasoline when it is burned. Bibliography Newman, Stefani. “How Algae Biodiesel Works.” HowStuffWorks. 1998-2013 HowStuffWorks, Inc. 24 July 2012. Web. 2 December 2013 http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/algae-biodiesel.htm Daly, John. “Research Unlocks Algae Biofuel Potential.” Oil Price, 25 November 2013. Web. 2 December 2013. http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Biofuels/Research-Unlocks-Algae-Biofuel-Potential.html
I am sorry that I sent this so late. This weekend has been very busy and I did not have time to do my blog because I was visiting family. I just woke up after arriving at my house at 4 a.m. in the morning and then I finished my blog.
Algae have been considered an alternate fuel to help the environment. Algae fuel uses algae as a source of natural deposits. Governments have been funding efforts to make the algae fuel production commercially viable. Algae releases CO2 when burned but the CO2 is taken out of the atmosphere. The crisis of energy in the world has ignited the interest of making vegetable oil, biodiesel, bioethanol, biogasoline, biomethanol, biobutanol and other biofuels. They can be grown with few of fresh water resources. They can be produced using ocean and wastewater. They are biodegradable and harmless to the environment if spilled. Biodiesel was accepted at the U.S. with production of 1.1bn ton of conventional diesel and land mass of 57 million hectares. Favorable compared to other fuels. Biogasoline was produced from algae and contains 6 and 12 carbon atoms per molecule. Can be used in ‘‘internal-combustion engines’’. The Algenol system uses seawater and industrial exhaust to produce ethanol. Algae can produce 300 times more oil than soybean, palms, and rapeseed. The harvesting cycle has 1-10 days of wait. Algae could help decrease the global warming decreasing the rate of producing and the amount produced of CO2. It takes CO2 out of the atmosphere. Europe countries like United Kingdom started the production of biofuels to make them a less contaminated country. The US started the Aquatic Species Program in 1978 and found about using the algae as a potential fuel. Scientists have investigated that Algae makes a decrease in pollution damage to the atmosphere creating a safer environment producing much less CO2 than fossil fuels do.
Scientists are using algae to make more environmental-friendly fuel. Algae can grow almost anywhere and burns cleaner than petroleum. For this reason, scientists are trying to make fuel from it. It is called a bio-fuel because it is “derived directly from a living matter.” (https://www.google.com/#q=what+is+a+biofuel) Scientists say that algae can absorb greenhouse gasses. The process of testing this has been stopped because people are afraid of the unknown side effects. “If successful, the technique could be rolled out across vast swathes of the Great Southern Ocean. Scientists calculate that if the whole 20 million square miles was treated, it could remove up to three and a half Gigatons of C02, equivalent to one eighth of all global annual emissions from fossil fuels.” (http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/04/green-algae-bloom-process-could-stop-global-warming/) That means that the amount of CO2 would be increased which is a positive thing.
Algae as Biofuel by Caleb McHyde
ReplyDeleteAlgae one day may be one part of the solution to our dependence of biofules. Algae are plants that can be found in coastal waters that take in CO2 and sunlight to grow. There are many types of Algae and included in these are some harmful algae like Cyanobacteria and Dinoflagellates [source: epagov.]
Good algae are the major source of food for marine life and help put oxygen in the water. Cyanobacteria and Dinoflagellates have the ability to control their depth in the water, and so they kill all the other algae that are on the seafloor by not letting them get any sunlight [source: epagov]. They also take all the oxygen out so that the other algae die faster but it is dangerous because it can kill other aquatic life. After that take out competition they can get more nutrients and then make (HAB’s) Harmful algae Blooms.
The HAB’s can release toxins and hurt the health of fishes and even humans and there has been little ways to get rid of it until now. Humans are now able to get oil out of the algae through a series of methods. The first and most common is expression which consists of which literally presses on it so that is lets out the oil. This form is usually used with other methods like Hexane which is a chemical solvent that can be put with the pulp that is left to extract additional oil after the expression method. When the oil is extracted it is referred to as “Green Crude” and not yet ready for use. The “Green Crude” has to go through a process called transesterification where the step adds more substances to the mix, including alcohol and a chemical catalyst that causes the alcohol to react with the oil which makes biodiesel and glycerol. Then a final process to separate glycerol from the mixture which leaves the biodiesel that can be used as fuel. Let us hope it kicks on and can help save our world.
Sources:
How Stuff Works: http://www.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/biofuels/convert-algae-to-biofuel.htm
Cleantechnica: http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/04/green-algae-bloom-process-could-stop-global-warming/
Epa.gov: http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/climatehabs.pdf
VDH: https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology/dee/HABS/harmful_algae/harmful.htm
Scientists have been searching for a renewable fuel source that will be efficient enough to stop the world from using petroleum-based fuels. This is especially true with ever-rising price of gasoline. Scientist have now come to the conclusion that algae biofuel would be an extremely efficient source of energy. Algae could be a fast and efficient solution to the modern fuel crisis.
ReplyDeleteAlgae can be mass produced easily. It only needs carbon dioxide, sunlight and water to grow. They grow quickly and in many different climates. Scientists claim that 1 acre dedicated to farming algae and making oil could produce 100,000 gallons of biofuel in one year. Algae is not only a fast fuel source. It is also an efficient one. More than %50 of algaes body composition consists of lipids (page 2, Newman). Most of these lipids reside in the cell wall of these organisms. The rest of an algae cell is mostly water.
Scientists believe that this breakthrough in green fuel sources will help decrease global warming. This is due to the fact that this source of fuel is more ecologically sound because it consists of farming a rapid growing plant instead of digging fuels out of the ground. Global warming will also be decreased by the fact that algae bio-releases less heat than gasoline when it is burned.
Bibliography
Newman, Stefani. “How Algae Biodiesel Works.” HowStuffWorks. 1998-2013 HowStuffWorks, Inc. 24 July 2012. Web. 2 December 2013 http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/algae-biodiesel.htm
Daly, John. “Research Unlocks Algae Biofuel Potential.” Oil Price, 25 November 2013. Web. 2 December 2013. http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Biofuels/Research-Unlocks-Algae-Biofuel-Potential.html
I am sorry that I sent this so late. This weekend has been very busy and I did not have time to do my blog because I was visiting family. I just woke up after arriving at my house at 4 a.m. in the morning and then I finished my blog.
Algae have been considered an alternate fuel to help the environment. Algae fuel uses algae as a source of natural deposits. Governments have been funding efforts to make the algae fuel production commercially viable. Algae releases CO2 when burned but the CO2 is taken out of the atmosphere. The crisis of energy in the world has ignited the interest of making vegetable oil, biodiesel, bioethanol, biogasoline, biomethanol, biobutanol and other biofuels. They can be grown with few of fresh water resources. They can be produced using ocean and wastewater. They are biodegradable and harmless to the environment if spilled. Biodiesel was accepted at the U.S. with production of 1.1bn ton of conventional diesel and land mass of 57 million hectares. Favorable compared to other fuels. Biogasoline was produced from algae and contains 6 and 12 carbon atoms per molecule. Can be used in ‘‘internal-combustion engines’’. The Algenol system uses seawater and industrial exhaust to produce ethanol. Algae can produce 300 times more oil than soybean, palms, and rapeseed. The harvesting cycle has 1-10 days of wait. Algae could help decrease the global warming decreasing the rate of producing and the amount produced of CO2. It takes CO2 out of the atmosphere. Europe countries like United Kingdom started the production of biofuels to make them a less contaminated country. The US started the Aquatic Species Program in 1978 and found about using the algae as a potential fuel. Scientists have investigated that Algae makes a decrease in pollution damage to the atmosphere creating a safer environment producing much less CO2 than fossil fuels do.
ReplyDeleteBibliography:
1. http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/7/46/703.abstract
2. www.wikipedia.org
3. http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2013/03/11/algenol-hits-9k-gallonsacre-mark-for-algae-to-ethanol-process/
Scientists are using algae to make more environmental-friendly fuel. Algae can grow almost anywhere and burns cleaner than petroleum. For this reason, scientists are trying to make fuel from it. It is called a bio-fuel because it is “derived directly from a living matter.” (https://www.google.com/#q=what+is+a+biofuel) Scientists say that algae can absorb greenhouse gasses. The process of testing this has been stopped because people are afraid of the unknown side effects. “If successful, the technique could be rolled out across vast swathes of the Great Southern Ocean. Scientists calculate that if the whole 20 million square miles was treated, it could remove up to three and a half Gigatons of C02, equivalent to one eighth of all global annual emissions from fossil fuels.” (http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/04/green-algae-bloom-process-could-stop-global-warming/) That means that the amount of CO2 would be increased which is a positive thing.
ReplyDeleteBibliography:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/algae-biodiesel.htm
http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/04/green-algae-bloom-process-could-stop-global-warming/
https://www.google.com/#q=what+is+a+biofuel