Comprehensive Oilgae Report

A detailed report on all aspects of the algae fuel value chain, the Comprehensive Oilgae Report will be of immense help to those who are on the threshold of investing in algae biofuels. More ››

Algae-based Wastewater Treatment

Compiled by a diverse team of experts, with experience in scientific and industrial fields, the Comprehensive Report for Wastewater Treatment Using Algae is the first report that provides in-depth analysis and insights on this important field. It uses innumerable data and information from a wide variety of expert sources and market studies, and distills these inputs and data into intelligence and a roadmap that you can use. More ››

Comprehensive Guide for Algae-based Carbon Capture

A Comprehensive Guide for Entrepreneurs and Businesses Who Wish to get a Basic Understanding of the Business Opportunities and Industry Dynamics of the Algae-based CO2. More ››


Comprehensive Report on Attractive Algae Product Opportunities

This is for entrepreneurs and businesses who wish to get a basic understanding of the algae fuel business and industrThe report provides an overview of the wide range of non-fuel applications of algae – both current and future prospects. It will provide entrepreneurs with an idea of how to derive more benefits from their algal energy ventures. The report provides detailed case studies, success stories and factoids of companies that have been involved in the algae products venture. More ››

Comprehensive Castor Oil Report

There is no other comprehensive report available for castor oil anywhere in the world. This is the first of its kind, and currently, the only one. More ››

Bioplastics Market & Strategy Advisor

Bioplastics Market & Strategy Advisor, published by the Bioplastics Guide, is a unique guiding framework for businesses and entrepreneurs to chart a way forward provides a critical analysis of the status, opportunities & trends of the global bioplastics sector. More ››

Algae - Food and Feed

Edible Sea-weeds 

Hydrocolloids

Animal and Fish Feed

Algae-Useful Substances

Pigments

PUFAs

Vitamins

Anti-oxidants


Algae for Pollution Control

Other Novel Applications

Expert market & strategy consulting for biofuels, bioplastics - Talk to EAI

Large-scale Biodiesel Production from Algae


 
 
 
 

Theoretically, Biodiesel produced from algae appears to be the only feasible solution today for replacing petro-diesel completely. No other feedstock has the Oil Yield high enough for it to be in a position to produce such large volumes of oil. To elaborate, it has been calculated that in order for a crop such as soybean or palm to yield enough oil capable of replacing petro-diesel completely, a very large percentage of the current land available needs to be utilized only for biodiesel crop production, which is quite infeasible. For some small countries, in fact it implies that all land available in the country be dedicated to biodiesel crop production. However,

if the feedstock were to be algae, owing to its very high yield of oil per Acre of cultivation, it has been found that about 10 million acres of land would need to be used for biodiesel cultivation in the US in order to produce biodiesel to replace all the petrodiesel used currently in that country. This is just 1% of the total land used today for farming and grazing together in the US (about 1 billion acres). Clearly, algae are a superior alternative as a feedstock for large-scale biodiesel production.

In practice however, biodiesel has not yet been produced on a wide scale from algae, though large scale algae cultivation and biodiesel production appear likely in the near future (4-5 years).

In order to produce biodiesel from algae on a large-scale, the following conditions need to be met, logically speaking:

  • Ability to sustainably produce high-oil-yielding algae strains on a large-scale
  • Ability to extract the oil from the algae on a large scale
  • Capability for large-scale conversion of algal oil into biodiesel

The first two aspects are specific to algae, while the third is a generic aspect for biodiesel production from all plant oils.

Based on the current research inputs, it appears that the real concern would be condition # 1: Capability to sustainably produce high-oil-yielding algae strains on a large-scale. While the other two conditions need to be addressed as well, those two are primarily engineering considerations over which we have more control than over condition #1. This, hence needs to be given more focus.

The capability to sustainably produce high-oil-yielding algae strains on a large-scale can again be thought to contain two distinct aspects: (1) Identifying the high-yielding Algal Strains and (2) Identifying the most optimal methods to cultivate them. A good amount of research is taking place in each of these two aspects and it is hoped that there will be more good news soon. 

More articles & news on large-scale algal fuel production: Visitors may kindly have a look at the Oilgae Blog Directory for relevant blog articles.

See also:

Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae – Michael Briggs, University of New Hampshire

Large-scale Algae Culture Systems

Large-scale Algal Turf Scrubber (PDF)

Algae Culture – from Wikipedia

Other Related Sections

Blue Green Algae, Red Algae, Green Algae, Marine Algae, String Algae, Pond Algae, Pond Algae Control, Algae Control

 
 
 
 



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