Seaweed energy of the future

The oil crisis in the early 70s of the last century alerted all humanity to the depletion of non-renewable resources such as oil. And for decades, we are trying to find another source of energy that is able to regenerate higher and cleaner such as chemical energy, wind energy, solar energy . But algae oil perhaps still a strange concept for the majority of people.

Using oil extracted from plants to operate a car engine is no longer a problem. But let's make a small calculation of vegetable oil with the area planted. To provide enough energy for all cars running across the United States, the area of ​​arable land must reach nearly 2 billion hectares, of which 1.2 billion hectares of soybeans, 400 million hectares of canola trees and parts The rest is for other oil crops.

This image will become familiar in a not too distant future: will vehicles stop at stations that receive fuel prepared from marine algae?

Meanwhile, the area of ​​agricultural land in the United States is currently just over 100 million hectares. Due to the difficulties in the area of ​​arable land that cannot be overcome so far, the replacement of all ethanol by ethanol fuel for cars is impossible. But there is a solution that can overcome this difficulty. It is algae oil.

Unlike other plants that can take other oil, algae are plants that do not require any centimeter of soil. It can be grown in shallow continental shelves, or planted on the desert, in artificial water tanks. Another advantage of algae is its high carbon dioxide absorption capacity. Therefore, in the future, this is not only an energy solution but it is also a solution to the increasingly serious environmental pollution problem of the earth.

Revive an abandoned project

Although the current advantage of algae has been clearly demonstrated, to achieve this result a lot of effort and money have been spent over nearly two decades. In 1978, US President Carter signed a decision to implement a project to develop aquatic plants for oil replacement needs (APS for short). The budget for this project is $ 25 million. But after nearly 20 years, researchers failed to grow algae grown in artificial environments and extract oil from seaweed. In 1996, President Clinton decided to close this project. However, project scientists continue their research, although they do not receive any government pay.

3 benefits from marine algae

1. Fat in marine algae can be used as a biofuel for future cars.

2. From the most barren places like New Mexico, scientists can grow marine algae to fuel all types of transport throughout the United States.

3. In the future, seaweed farms can absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide and convert into oxygen.

One of them is biologist Jim Sears. Do not continue to receive money from the project, he had to work in a cow-like camp first and continue to study right in his own garage! Sears realized that culturing marine algae in circular bags as previously used by researchers was not suitable for algae growth. The scientist decided to experiment with cultivating them in a few tall, square-shaped glass aquariums that could help the algae cling to the tank wall to grow. On the other hand, the water used in the tank is pure sea water, with some types of seaweed added to a slightly turbid water to create an environment similar to the natural environment in which algae live. And the miracle has come, algae grow in Jim Sears' aquariums.

However, another problem that arises when Sears successfully cultivates algae in artificial environments is cost. In order for algae oil to compete on price with kerosene, algae must be successfully cultured in a completely natural environment. Because the cost of building algae-growing plants and operating them will push up the price of oil products. The solution of the economic problem seems to be deadlocked. There will be very few people who spend a lot more money to buy fuel for their car simply for environmental protection reasons.

Taking advantage of previous relationships while working in the navy, Sears mobilized SEAL's help - the US Navy's task force to search for areas where algae could be grown in the bay. Florida. Several areas have been selected and cultured to test algae in a completely natural environment. Testing has achieved some positive results. Many investors paid attention to Jim Sears' project. And finally, after nearly 20 years, this scientist's labor effort has also been rewarded. In 2004, the US government restarted the project abandoned by President Clinton in 1996.

Every year, all vehicles in the United States emit 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air. On average, the US government must pay 250 million dollars to foreign countries to import oil to meet domestic demand. Financial and emissions figures shocked the nation. They realize that they p

Professor Bryan Willson, machine engineering expert at Colorado State University, one of Jim Sears' important assistants in the biofuel project.

Hai does something before it's too late. In a recent speech, President Bush set a target for the United States by 2017 to replace 20% of petroleum with other clean materials. This means that the amount of clean fuel that the United States produces must be equivalent to 132.3 billion liters. All hope is placed on seaweed, because only marine algae are not restricted in cultivated area compared to other oil crops.

President Bush's speech stimulated investors throughout the United States, who "smelled the money in the sea". Immediately after the event, Bohemian investment fund signed an agreement to invest more than $ 2 million in Jim Sears' project.

The success of the study of cultivating and extracting oil from marine algae has also attracted a lot of interest from the European Union, they plan to study this technology of the US to solve the shortage of oil. and environmental pollution of EU countries. Even in the United States, there were five draft laws already in place at the offices of MPs, the main contents of these drafts were to limit the exploitation and use of fossil energy sources, stimulating work. Researching and using other energy sources is cleaner and easier to reproduce.

Difficulties ahead

Although it has successfully studied the use of marine algae as an energy source, it is necessary to spend a lot of time and effort to make it effective in practice. Because algae oil extraction technology still has its limitations.

First is the ecological issue. If cultivating algae in a completely natural environment, diseases that occur only in algae will quickly spread into epidemics. This risk is due to the fact that the culture process will make the algae density more than normal, the disease will be easily transmitted from tree to tree. Meanwhile in normal conditions there is still a safe distance between the algae together, so the risk of infection is lower. It can be imagined that this epidemic spread is no different from epidemics in human society. When people live with very high population density and hygienic conditions do not guarantee diseases such as typhoid, smallpox, in conditions of lower population density, these diseases cannot spread to Translate. Furthermore, if people intentionally create a favorable environment for algae to grow, other organisms will inevitably have a harder time competing in the habitat, especially those that also suck air. CO2 is a source of nutrition for development.

Bags containing seaweed
(Photo: Renewableenergyaccess)

Second is the economic problem. Not all of the cultured algae that scientist Jim Sears and colleagues tested can extract the oil. Of the 12 test samples, only one was for oil. If this limitation is not overcome, the cost of one liter of algae oil will still be much higher than a liter of oil. And so, economically, algae oil will be an impossible solution. If culturing algae in an artificial environment, the oil capacity will be higher. But the very high demands on technology are a difficult barrier to overcome. In order for the algae to grow in the artificial environment, the micronutrients that complement it must ensure absolute accuracy. One has to set up a computer system with specialized software to determine which substances are missing and add them one milligram at a time.

The final barrier lies in the engine structure of the majority of cars in circulation. Even cars belonging to the most modern models produced in 2007, their engines have not been built to be able to operate with algae oil or other vegetable oils instead of gasoline. If in 2017, the United States wants to replace 20% of oil with other types of energy that does not pollute the environment, it means that they must have about 20% of cars built using this fuel, or you can use two fuels simultaneously. This is clearly not a simple problem. In order to solve this problem, Sears and his colleagues must have cooperation from the car manufacturing industry. Of course, people are now better aware of environmental protection. But no trader wants to increase production costs just because of a problem unrelated to their survival.

Despite such difficulties, algae oil still has a positive future because it is a "two-shot arrow" solution for not only the United States but also humans. This technology deserves humanity to drain the gray matter for its effective application.

Tuan Dung

Green dream

Although many people commented that he was an idealist, but in the past 20 years, Jim Sears has drawn extremely hands-on experiences as an inventor."No matter how great your idea is and how many people are willing to help you, it doesn't matter!", He said. "What is important is the benefit of that idea. If the idea is without any benefit it will never be able to "move".

The process of creating fuel from marine algae

(1) It is first grown separately into clusters of marine algae called Botryococcus braunii (a special algae-rich algae) in thin and transparent plastic bags on the desert.

(2) When these algae clusters grow, scientists will remove nitrogen from them.Cells will respond to poor nutrient supply by producing more fat.

(3) When the amount of fat produced is sufficient, it is necessary to concentrate the cells to separate them systematically.

(4) Filter large cells and membranes, then use solvents such as methanol to separate fat from water-soluble proteins and sugars.

(5) Refining the fat obtained and evaporating the solvent.

(6) Finally, put fat into a chemical reactor to convert them into biofuel.

(Photo: Treehugger)