how algae fuel works
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How Algae Fuel Works
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Open Pond Growing The most natural
method for growing algae that will be used to produce algae fuel is open-pond growing
Open ponds are able to produce the greatest amount of algae in hot and sunny conditions
Pros: Most natural and least
invasive methodCons: Bad weather
conditions slow growth Contamination from
other living things in pond
It is hard to keep the water at the temperature it must be for the algae to grow
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Vertical Growth A quicker and more
efficient method of producing algae is vertical growing
Algae are put in clear plastic bags to allow sunlight on both sides
Bags are put in tall piles and shielded from the rain
Pros: Faster and more efficient
than open-pond growth Algae won’t be
contaminatedCons: It is hard to keep the water
at the temperature it must be for the algae to grow
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Closed-Tank Bioreactors For the fastest algae
production, big, round barrels can grow algae indoors in closed-tank bioreactors
The algae can be controlled into growing at the highest speed possible
It is able to be harvested every day
Pros: Large production of
algae, which means more oil for biodiesel
Good weather conditions for algae growth
Plants can be built near energy plants in order to capture extra CO2 that would have polluted the air
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Fermentation A modification to
the closed-tank method of algae growth is called fermentation
The algae are grown in closed containers and supplied with sugar to eat, which speeds their growth
Pros: All weather and
environmental conditions can be kept the same
Algae can be grown anywhere in the world
Cons: There are problems
with finding enough sugar to use this process
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Extracting Oil from Algae After producing the algae, a few
different methods can be used to extract the lipids (oils) from the algae
The product of this is Green Crude
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Oil Press The easiest and most common process of
extracting oil from algae is the oil press This method can remove up to 75% of the
oil in the algae simply by pressing it This is the same technique an olive press
uses
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Hexane Solvent Method The 2-step process that removes up to 95% of
oil from the algae is called the hexane solvent method
First, the oil press method is used Next, the remaining algae is combined with
methane, filtered and cleaned so that no chemical remains in the oil
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Supercritical Fluids Method CO2 is used as the
supercritical fluid to remove up to 100% of the oil from algae in the supercritical fluids method
The CO2 is put under pressure and heated so that it is changed into a liquid, as well as a gas
The CO2 is then combined with the algae, making it entirely turn into oil
This is a less common method because there is extra labor and equipment need
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Green Crude The Green Crude
produced from algae can be processed in a refinery the same way conventional oil is
It can be made into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, the main fuels needed in society
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Transesterification Once the oil has been
taken out, it is treated with fatty acid chains in a method called transesterification
This process includes a catalyst (i.e. sodium hydroxide), which is combined with an alcohol (i.e. methanol)
This will produce a biodiesel mixed with a glycerol (algae biodiesel fuel)
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Cars Running on Algae Fuel The final product in
the algae fuel process will be a Drop-in replacement fuel which is ASTM certified Gasoline, x26 Jet fuel
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Turning Algae into Biodiesel
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Why Algae? Source of crude oil. The regular crude
oil we use today was originally formed from algae that bloomed millions of years ago
Helps climate change. Absorbs about 13-14 kg of CO2 for every gallon of Green Crude grown
Easy to grow. Algae can grow rapidly, especially in salt water in the desert.
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REVIEW of Algae to Biofuel ProcessAlgae (Green Crude) is grown from CO2 and
sunlight
Algae is harvested and the oil is removed
Algae is refined (transesterification) in the same way as conventional oil
Drop-in Gasoline, Jet Fuel, and Biodiesel is produced