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algae

Direct air capture of CO2 is becoming a business, for better or worse

March 12, 2012 by Marc Gunther
with 1,156 views
5

  Klaus Lackner Since 1999, when Columbia University physicist Klaus Lackner wrote the first scientific paper [PDF, download] about capturing carbon dioxide from the air, his unlikely idea has grown into a nascent industry. Four start-up companies, including his own, Kilimanjaro Energy, are working on technologies to extract CO2... [read more]

Biofuels: Value vs. Volume

February 14, 2012 by Geoffrey Styles
with 513 views
6

I was only partially surprised to read in MIT's Technology Review that Amyris, a biotechnology company developing renewable diesel and jet fuel from sugar cane, was backing away from the biofuel market to pursue more lucrative products. Fuels are a highly competitive, low-margin business, and it's hard enough to make money refining them... [read more]

A Solution for Biofuels? Researchers Quadruple Algae Growth Using Low-Level Magnetic Fields

July 5, 2011 by Tyler Hamilton
with 1,190 views
0

My Clean Break column revisits the importance of producing biofuels from algae, especially in the case of producing renewable fuels for the airline industry, which can’t electrify its fleet like we can with cars and trucks. But I also zoom in on some research conducted at the University of Western Ontario, led by biochemistry professor... [read more]

energyNOW! Video: The Future of Flight

April 25, 2011 by Silvio Marcacci
with 204 views
0

Engineers are constantly trying to make airplanes more efficient, and there's finally a big push to do so. In “The Future of Flight,” Special Correspondent Josh Zepps takes a look at how the aviation industry is evolving to meet new needs and pressures, with new aircraft designs and advanced fuels. [read more]

Bioplastics: What Will 2011 Bring?

January 6, 2011 by Doris de Guzman
with 1,280 views
0

Here is an industry insight on bioplastics from Jim Lunt of Jim Lunt and Associates, LLC. We asked his opinions on the industry's performance in 2010 and his perspectives on the trends for 2011. 2010 was a pivotal growth year for bioplastics after the economy-induced flat period of 2009. Several prominent studies projected almost 40%... [read more]

At least 10 more years of R&D needed, but algae biofuels could be major contributor (particularly for jet fuel): study

November 9, 2010 by Tyler Hamilton
with 485 views
0

If you want a comprehensive snapshot of the state of algae biofuel development you may want to read a 178-report put out by the Energy Biosciences Institute in California. RenewableEnergyWorld.com hits the key findings in this article, but the general observation is that the market is in “early gestation” and there’s at least a decade to... [read more]

Study Finds Algae Biodiesel Life Cycle Analysis Better Than Petroleum Diesel, Soy Biodiesel

September 27, 2010 by Mike Gregory
with 1,547 views
0

The transformation of algae into a biofuel – from the photobioreactor where it’s grown to the factories where it’s processed – is more environmentally friendly than the process for petroleum diesel or soy biodiesel, according to a groundbreaking Colorado State University study. The research, by Professors Thomas Bradley and Bryan... [read more]

Gee whiz, algae!

September 12, 2010 by Marc Gunther
with 1,447 views
1

Big institutions can make mistakes, as we’ve learned, painfully, lately. (See BP, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, etc.) But when big corporations like Unilever, Chevron and Bunge  invest in a algae company that is also in business with the U.S. Navy, well, that’s a good reason to take notice. The algae company is called Solazyme and... [read more]

Cement maker first in world to capture CO2 with alga

March 18, 2010 by Tyler Hamilton
with 261 views
0

We all know that making cement is an energy-intensive process, so when carbon prices are introduced in North America it’s going to have a major impact on an industry that quite literally lays at the foundation of our economy. In Ontario, cement maker St. Marys Cement — now part of Brazilian conglomerate Groupo Votorantim – has... [read more]

Solazyme’s amazing algae

March 18, 2010 by Marc Gunther
with 664 views
0

Algae are so good at producing oil from sunlight and carbon dioxide that there are, by some accounts, as many as 200 companies trying to make biofuels from algae. Some are obscure, little more than a couple of guys playing around with pond scum. Others are attention-grabbing, like Synthetic Genomics, the company led by pioneering... [read more]

Strong algae momentum

March 4, 2010 by Doris de Guzman
with 354 views
0

Two recent big news on the algae front are developments from Honeywell's UOP business and from DuPont. Both companies were able to get funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) - $1.5 million for UOP and $8.8 million for DuPont. In UOP's case, The funding will be used for the design of a demonstration system that will capture... [read more]

Another Response to the DARPA Claim

February 19, 2010 by Robert Rapier
with 504 views
1

Many of my essays here are reprinted at The Energy Collective. Following a reprint of my recent essay examining DARPA's extraordinary claim on the cost of algal fuel, a reader named Durwood Dugger (this gentleman, I presume) posted some very interesting comments that are worth reproducing here. His original comment can be found here... [read more]

Algal Oil for $2 a Gallon?

February 17, 2010 by Robert Rapier
with 499 views
3

By now I have had at least a dozen people send me the link or ask me to comment on the recent DARPA announcement that they can produce algal oil for $2 a gallon. It is an extraordinary claim, and it deserves some scrutiny. My fellow blogger Lou Grinzo has already made a few comments, and I share his skepticism. Then again, if you... [read more]

Algae jet fuel

February 13, 2010 by Lou Grinzo
with 177 views
1

Algae to solve the Pentagon’s jet fuel problem: The brains trust of the Pentagon says it is just months away from producing a jet fuel from algae for the same cost as its fossil-fuel equivalent. The claim, which comes from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that helped to develop the internet and satellite... [read more]

The challenge of life-cycle analysis in a world of rapid innovation

January 29, 2010 by Tyler Hamilton
with 246 views
0

There was a big stink this week when a published study, led by University of Virginia civil engineering professor Andres Clarens, concluded that producing biofuels from algae isn’t as climate-friendly as many people believe, at least when compared to getting biofuels from switchgrass, canola, and – Huh? — even corn. The results,... [read more]