After Gutenberg

Subtitle: Since the last of the Amazon Rain Forest just went into the hopper

“Raw algae can be processed to make biocrude, the renewable equivalent of petroleum, and refined to make gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and chemical feedstocks for plastics and drugs. Indeed, it can be processed at existing oil refineries to make just about anything that can be made from crude oil.”

This blog recently picked up the clarion cry for an algae lobby. Algae, plainly referred to as pond scum, can produce up to 10,000 gallons of oil per acre and can be grown virtually anywhere, so say the researchers at Utah State University that have received $6 million dollars over five years to grow it in Utah desert. The Energy Daily notes:

Biodiesel is a clean and carbon-dioxide-neutral fuel that is becoming more popular, but most of the current product comes from soybean and corn oil. As supply and demand grows, so does the price of soybeans and corn. People and animals rely on soybean and corn as a food commodity, eventually causing competition between commodities and growing enough product.

Which is interesting language, bio-diesel must be clean in a similar manner as coal, eh? Nevertheless, the point about commodities is, generally speaking, a valid one. In other words, this blog agrees with Lester Brown and His Band of Renown the Earth Policy Institute. The nuance is that when the seed is crushed for oil, the remainder of the seed could be used for feed or as feedstock for other processes.

The point about carbon-neutral is generally valid, as well, at least when compared to “clean coal”, which definitely is NOT carbon-neutral. However, a little know chemical fact: to convert the oil to bi-diesel requires a step in the process called esterfication. In current mass production, the step uses methanol, which generally comes from natural gas. Thus, while testing* is underway to make the entire process carbon-neutral, the current process makes use of non-carbon-neutral inputs.

* Note: Green Star Products uses ethanol, rather than methanol. Using ethanol is more expensive, which is why the bio-diesel industry uses methanol, almost all of which, says GSPI President, Joseph P. LaStella, P.E., “comes from South American countries and of course is not renewable because it is produced from natural gas.” Uh-oh, EP. GSPI is taking the further step of using cellulosic ethanol and low-grade heat supplied by co-generation. The heat is necessary for the fermentation of the sugar to ethanol.

Nor is Fischer-Tropsch bio-diesel carbon neutral. Which bring us back to the algae topic and the hype** that bio-fuels from algae could help ease the nation’s energy woes.

To be sure, the use of algae for liquid fuels has been studied extensively in the past, including through a program at NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) that ran for nearly a decade. At the time, the results were not encouraging. The NREL program was terminated in 1996, largely because at the time crude-oil prices were far too low for algae to compete …But Eric Jarvis, an NREL scientist, says that enough has changed that NREL researchers expect to restart the program within the next six months to a year. When the program was canceled in 1996, oil prices were relatively low. Today’s higher oil prices will make it easier for algae to compete. Still, Jarvis cautions that “you have to be careful because there’s a lot of hype out there right now.”

** BTW: This blog refers to it as spin.

Many are placing their hopes on algae as a source of electricity and bio-fuel. Specifically, “clean coal” technology is betting on algae farms as a way not only to capture CO₂, but it also as a source of bio-fuel.

Whether you call it rapeseed methyl ester, pond scum power or Fischer-Tropsch bio-diesel any of it requires after treatment.

So, the Sietch Blog believes that an Algae Lobby is needed in Washington to counter-balance Big Farm interests with their bias toward Canola, corn and soy. One might imagine that the Big Farm agenda is to put Oil Seed Harry in the driver’s seat. Also, know as the Puppet’s Stage brought to you by our Big Oil Masters.

In other words, Big Oil still controls the flow of alternate fuels into the fuel tank, whether we talk fossil fuels or bio-crude. So, why have a specific lobby when pond scum already run the country?

Nor does an emphasis on process steps mitigate that combustion produces emissions. Yes, the combustion of bio-diesel produces less particulate matter, but it still requires after-treatment. Bio-diesel combustion performance studies at ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) indicate that NO_x emissions are greater from combustion of bio-diesel than regular diesel.

Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory assessed the performance of a 100% biodiesel fuel (methyl ester), derived from soy oil, compared to three other hydrocarbon diesel fuels in an HCCI engine. Findings indicate that biodiesel requires earlier combustion phasing for peak efficiency, a hotter charge for ignition, burns more rapidly, and exhibits higher combustion temperatures than the HC based fuels. Total HC, CO, and NOx are all higher for the biodiesel.