Plankton for Biofuel

A Spanish company, Bio Fuel Systems, based in Alicante, Spain claims it is on the verge of producing an limitless source of biofuel based on plankton (algae).

BioFuel Systems was formed earlier this year after three years of research by scientists and engineers connected with the University of Alicante. The company has been researching the potential of breeding the tiny sea-borne plants then extracting oil from vat-grown phytoplankton.

They have been able to extract the unrefined oil, but has been unable to refine it into a usable fuel.  The plan on being able to refine it within 18 months. Bio Fuel Systems has drawn up industrial plans to make the fuel and says it will be able to start continuous production in 14 to 18 months.

They hope to sell the fuel for $0.25 pear litre, with a sales price of 1 euro with distribution and taxes added in.

its main benefit will be the speed at which the fuel 'crop' can be grown and harvested.

Bernard Stroiazzo-Mougin, president of the company, believes the product is a strong candidate in the race to find a fuel to replace gasoline. "It shares its advantages but not its disadvantages, and the price will be lower," he said.

Mougin also said "the system will produce massive amounts of biopetroleum from phytoplankton, in a limited space and at a very moderate cost." He said that the photo-bioreactor to be produced by his company is not the same as the biofuels being produced by other countries.

While the performance of the plankton oil is expected to be similar to other biofuels with comparable environmental advantages in terms of emissions, the fuel is expected to make significant cuts in CO2 emissions as the plankton absorbs all the CO2 which is released when the fuel is burned, although there will be emissions associated with the production process and transport of the fuel.

It is also expected to have half the emissions of carbon monoxide of petrol and no sulphur emissions

About the only thing I have to say about this is that activity on producing biofuels from algae is heating up and getting some deserved attention.  This is the first time I have heard of growing it in vats or having any trouble "refining" it.

Resources:

Plankton could be key source of biofuel , edie news center, July 24, 2006
Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton, Reuters, July 20, 2006
Spain: Scientists Close to Making Biofuel from Algae, TMCnet, August 7, 2006

Comments

[J.C., Sr.]

About 20 years ago someone wrote an article claiming plankton would, in the future supply enough protien to feed the whole world. Well we finally found something more useful for it. Maybe we won't turn the heartland of America into a desert to feed our cars afterall.

[Cervus]

Yes! The more people we have working on this, the faster we'll get it. Nice going.

[Ender]

Yes but where does the food for the plankton come from??

[Ronald Brak]

"Where does the food for the plankton come from?"

Well, if the oil produced is simply a hydrocarbon, then photoplankton can get hydrogen from water and the carbon from CO2 from the air which has dissolved in the water. I presume that after the oil has been extracted the non oil part can be returned to the pond as nutrients for the remaining plankton. Of course some nutrients may need to be added to help the planton grow, but hopefully not much.

[vrwc]

Nice article, I had heard some rumblings on this a few months ago. Open question here, I am considering converting my truck to CNG, there's a thread going on my blog if any of you can help, thanks
(keep up the good work!)

[Paul Dietz]

That was really skimpy on details. I think one should be skeptical.

Very high biomass yields mean you need to address CO2 availability. How are they getting CO2 into the growth solution? Systems that are tacked onto fossil fuel burning plants trap only a fraction of the emitted CO2, for example, and don't work well when it's cold.

Dedicated photobioreactors are going to be expensive. Sure, yields/area could be high, but the system could and IMO likely would still be uncompetitive due the very high cost/area.

Getting the algae out of the system, drying it, and extracting the fuel are all serious problems.

[samu]

Hmm... I wonder how viable this is on the larger scale.

Bio-organisms are usually less than 2% efficient in sun-light to stored energy conversion (like phytoplankton).

Also, the article does not state how much external energy sources (beyond sun light) goes into the manufacturing, refining and delivering the bio-plankton-fuel.

If their conversion rate (productivity) is 400 times as big as for other bio-fuels, then the volume might just be big enough.

Now we just need to find out how much energy needs to go into the production, what is the yearly output rate and how much area/BTU they need for production.

Interesting concept, let's hope it becomes viable (in physical, practical and economical terms).

[Donb]

"Systems that are tacked onto fossil fuel burning plants trap only a fraction of the emitted CO2, for example, and don't work well when it's cold."

Lots of CO2 available at a fossile fuel plant. Even using only a part of it is an improvement. Also, lots of low temperature rejected heat available.

However, like other, I am sceptical about the claimed conversion rate.

[Demesure]

Growing algua in vat ?
These guys are organizing a big scam to grow money from credulous bureaucrats, aren't they?
Giant spirulin farms in the Californian desert growing high value added protein for human food supplement is hardly a good business. And these guys want to grow algua to make fuel ???

[Ronald Brak]

In a vat I'd say it's impossible to make money. The capital costs would be just too high. An open air pond on wasteland near the ocean in a warm place would be much cheaper but it would be hard to only grow the strains you want. But harvesting would be easy with a filter.

In terms of energy production I'm sure it would be much more efficent to put up a windturbine or photovoltaic cells. However, at the moment you can sell energy in liquid form for more than 10 times the amount you can sell energy in electrical form, so maybe they can make a buck.

[Tro]

Do these guys have website? I haven't been able to find one at all. This does sound a little sketchy with the lack of technical details.

[Joe McDonald]

We are a UK company manufacturing and supplying our patented photo-bio-reactors into the aquaculture, cosmetic, bio-remediation and biofuel sectors. Unlike most other companies out there who promise they can deliver a system or are still developing a system, we can and do actually deliver! Systems are exported globally, run continuously and operate at up to 36 times the density of conventional production systems.

[phil]

They have a web site:

http://www.biofuel-systems.com/

If you understand spanish, you can watch the reports from the main Spanish TV channel.

[bert jan potter van loon]

Like all real new developments the world is skeptical, especially when billions of dollars (oil) are concerned; but isn't it time to give these alternatives a thought ?

[Zack]

Haven't people learned yet to stop saying "limitless energy production?" One would think we had made that mistake enough times, and it only encourages over consumption.

That said, if they could pull it off, I'm all for wide-spread carbon neutral (or nearly so) fuels replacing oil.

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[bresson fernand]

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[Matthew]

Plankton and Phytoplankton grow in the world oceans. Maybe they can find a way to grow this stuff in some of our lakes and ponds. Or maybe it would be possible to section off parts of the Pacific and Atlantic ocean and even the Gulf of Mexico to be used for growing plankton for biofuel. You know those bouyant retaining walls they use to contain an oil spill. Maybe that can be used to create a "corral" where plankton can be grown and made into biofuel on land. If this can be done, possibly all our "liquid fuel" needs could be provided all by the oceans and the land can be used to grow food just for eating.

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