Algae Power

[BroBob1]

Take a look at this video and pay particular attention to the very last statement made by the scientist.

http://www.valcent.net/i/misc/Vertigro/index.html

[jaws810]

Now that is a great plan, not perfect but it's a start.

[FlashBang]

Yeah... some of the Algea programs state that the algea reproduce themselves every 24 hours and sometimes even less. So that in the case, where you have to destroy the algea to get the desired product, rather than an excretion from the algea....once your algea colony (population) reaches the appropriate level, you can take half daily ... and maintain that colony size and produce unheard of amounts of complex carbon chains.

One of the things that I really liked about this video, is the concept of "Closed Loop". So often, people reach a desired product production, then they simply stop. In this case, they maintain as much as possible with as little loss as they can. Then they get the oils that they want from the Algea (which appears to come with the destruction of the organizm). But instead of simply dumping the used algea... they have come up with additional uses and revenue streams as well.

One thing that they could do, in addition to using the remnants of the algea as he said, they could either use it as a supplement to animal feed (like pelleted hay)... it could also be used as feedstock in an Anerobic Digester which yeilds "Natural Gas" (methane, CH4) which is used heavily in the production of Hydrogen.

So it seems that Algea can provide us with oils and biofuels as well as a secondary use in the production fo Hydrogen.

FlashBang!

[resident_genius]

[FlashBang]

They have been doing Algea research for many decades. Not just for alternative fuels but also alternative foods, and oxygen production.

How many of you have seen the science fair project with the two bottles connected via a hose, one containing a shrimp and one containing algea... the algea produced the oxygen for the shrimp and the shirmp produced the CO2 for the algea. This is the basis of research into using Algea for LONG space flight... allowing the Astronaughts to provide nutirents (hair, nail clippings, feces, urine...etc. and CO2to the algea and the algea would provide rich biomass for food and O2. Now, having said that.... I know that different species of algea have different properties and vairable outputs, but as some species are reported to have products which can be put directly into your gas tank and burned like gasoline... surely these same species could be engineered to increas O2 output. This coupled with a Hydrocarbon fuel looks like "Food, Air, and Rocket Fuel on DEMAND"... and the sure aren't any "service stations" in space. And one step further, the remaining unused portion of the algea could be recycled either back to the live algea pool or put in a small digester to produce more CO2 and Methane which could both be used.



FlashBang!