engine using algae oil

[orig]

dear all members

i just wondering about algae oil. can we use it for gasoline or diesel engine?or both?or depend on the extraction algae oil processes?
thank you

regards
orig setianto

[guru]

Hai orig,

It is generally said Algae oil can be turned into biocrude and refined into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. But Solazyme biodiesel, Soladiesel, is the only company to demonstrate First Heavy-Duty Vehicle Powered by 100% Algal Derived Biofuel. They claim that Soladiesel exceeds both the requirements of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) biodiesel standard D6751 and EN 14214, the European standard, which ensures that biodiesel can safely run in any existing diesel engine.

Cheers
GURU

[cacofonix]

Well, you can make either ethanol ( a substitute for gasoline) or biodiesel (a sub for diesel) from algae. Put simplistically, the lipid content of algae give biodiesel, while the carbohydrate content in algae give ethanol...

If you gasify algae biomass and obtain what is called syngas, you can get practically any hydrocarbon variant from this syngas - which means you can theoretically (and also practically) derive any hydrocarbon from algae. However, the gasification process incurs heavy capital cost and hence only a few companies are trying it.

In sum, the answer to your question is: you can get either ethanol, or biodiesel (or in some cases both from the same biomass!), or also any other hydrocarbon, depending on the process you adopt

[afreeman1984]

It is debatable still whether or not these kinds of processes generate more energy than what is put into the process to make the products. Net energy has to be positive and an attractive figure for commercialization to be considered. No one has commercialized yet! Why!!! I think every company on the sector is smoke and mirrors as far as their claims and logistical yield data. I want some proof and I want some samples for analysis!