Is algae fuel snake oil? An interesting post on algae fuels from Cleantech Guide
Here’s an interesting post from the Cleantech Guide titled: “I heard we can get oil from algae. Is it snake oil or is it legit?”
This is a balanced view on the topic I must say. The takeaway: Potential exists, but don’t bet on it to happen anytime soon.
Some excerpts:
“
I can tell you this much: Getting bio-oil from algae is not black magic or pure hype. You can indeed get both biodiesel (a substitute for petro diesel) and ethanol (a partial substitute for gasoline) from algae.
…The challenge with biofuels from algae is not its technical feasibility (technology exists) but its high cost of production. The cost of cultivating, harvesting and drying algae (be they small microalgae or large seaweeds, also called macroalgae), are right now very expensive, resulting in a high cost for the biofuels made from algae.”
Interesting read indeed. Read the post from here.
