Fuel solution lurks in scum
2007-10-26 08:20
New York - A plant scientist from
West Texas believes one of the oldest, simplest life forms can
help ease some of today's toughest energy and environment
problems.
Algae converts carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas
blamed for global warming, into a vegetable oil that Glen
Kertz, a plant cell expert who used to work for oil companies,
hopes can be economically turned into the renewable motor fuel
biodiesel.
Algae doesn't need prime farmland, vast quantities of
fertiliser, or large harvest vehicles to be grown and
harvested, unlike corn which is the main US feedstock for
ethanol, the top alternative motor fuel.
The single-celled organisms, which are among the world's
fastest growing plants, can prosper in small bags of water
under the light of greenhouses.
"The more light I have, the more energy that I can capture
and put back into the transportation system," said Kertz, CEO of
private company Valcent Products. He
says he can quickly grow algae, sometimes known as pond scum,
anywhere but a rainy place like Seattle.
Funds venture in
Venture capitalists are racing to invest in alternative
energy sources as finding crude cheaply in places friendly to
the United States becomes harder, oil prices hit record levels
edging toward $100 a barrel, and worries about global warming
escalate.
Industry watcher Cleantech Group said on Thursday venture
capitalists sank one billion dollars into alternative energy in North America in the third quarter of this year.
And Canadian venture capital fund Sweetwater Capital is
helping fund Vertigro Energy, a joint venture between Kertz's
Valcent and Global Green Solutions Inc that is building the
pilot bioreactor and research laboratory in El Paso at a cost
of three million dollars. Kertz hopes Vertigro will be producing a small amount of vegetable oil that can be converted into biodiesel by the middle of next year.
Vertigro and other algae biodiesel companies like LiveFuels
Inc in California, and Greenfuel Technologies in
Massachusetts, say algae greenhouses can produce far more
vegetable oil per acre than soybeans, currently the top US
biodiesel feedstock.
Algae can produce 378 540 litres of oil
an acre (0.4 hectares) annually, Vertigro says.
Certainly there are road bumps ahead in the journey that's
barely begun for algae fuel, particularly a lack of
infrastructure. The Colonial Pipeline, the main US oil
products pipeline from the Houston oil hub to New York, said it
has no plans to pump biodiesel of any sort through its lines
because it leaves residue in the system that could contaminate
other fuels.
And the current energy system of ships, refineries,
pipelines and pumps that has been built over a century, will
not just evaporate, even if algae fuel becomes economical.
Defending algae, Kertz said removing glycerin from
biodiesel can eliminate pipeline problems. But major oil
companies have yet to shown interest in biodiesel, he said.