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Algae can be converted into various types of fuels, depending on the production technologies and the part of the cells used. The lipid, or oily part of the algae biomass can be extracted and converted into biodiesel through a process similar to that used for any other vegetable oil, or converted in a refinery into "drop-in" replacements for petroleum-based fuels.
Biodiesel is a liquid fuel composed of vegetable oils and or animal fats. To create the gasoline itself, these subsequent liquids are combined with alcohol. Biodiesel is used to fuel compression ignition engines, otherwise known as diesel engines. The most common product of biodiesel is B20, a 20:80 blend: 20% biodiesel to 80% petroleum diesel.
While its history dates back to 1978, much of the research from 1978 to 1982 was focused on using algae to produce hydrogen. The program switched emphasis to other transportation fuels, in particular biodiesel, beginning in the early 1980s. [2] In 1995, DOE made the decision to eliminate funding for algae research within the Biofuels Program.
Biodiesel from sea algae would not necessarily displace terrestrial land currently used for food production and new algaculture jobs could be created. By comparison it should be mentioned that the production of biogas utilizes agricultural waste to generate a biofuel known as biogas, and also produces compost , thereby enhancing agriculture ...
BETO organized an Algae Program dedicated to researching and improving the viability of algae as an energy source. EERE's official page for the Algae Program lists goals including improving yields of algae strains while decreasing expenses of growing algae, filtering the algae from the water, extracting the oils, and processing the biofuel. [3]
Iran started investigating the production of algae from 2000. Scientific evidence shows that south Iran is the richest area in the world for cultivating algae, because of high humidity, sunny weather, large unused area and salty water. [2] The first version of algae based biofuel will become available for industrial purposes in 2015. [3]
The aim of the facility is to produce commercially viable fuel from algae. [5] The site features research labs including engineering facilities, advanced molecular biology, CO 2 management, separations, and green chemistry advanced labs and an outdoor process development production unit on 40 acres. [ 6 ]
Although Scenedesmus is capable of producing many kinds of biofuels such as biohydrogen, biodiesel, bioethanol and drop-in fuels, most extensive research has been done on the use of Scenedesmus for biodiesel production. Like all algae systems, the implementation of integrated biofuel production of Scenedesmus from the laboratory findings has ...