Algae Biofuels

New alternatives to old fuels are important, and there are always people trying to come up with new ways to power their vehicles. One of the newest ways is with algae. Because algae are very prolific and easy to grow in many kinds of conditions, it’s a gold mine for people who want to find a way to turn it into fuel. There’s so much of it, and huge algae blooms can sometimes cause a problem for wildlife, so if they can be turned into something profitable that’s even better. With algae biofuels, jets and trucks can be operated without the kinds of fuels that are used now and that are so dangerous to the environment as a whole. Still, though, it will be five to ten years before anything like this is produced on a large scale.

Soybeans and other common feedstocks for biodiesel are popular, but algae offers up to 100 times more oil for each acre that’s harvested. That could be very significant when people are trying to use this on a large scale, since it can take a lot of feedstock to produce biofuels that work well. There are many different kinds of algae, too, and finding the ones that work the best can mean some trial and error for a lot of scientists. If one kind of algae works better than other kinds, it’s possible that there will be ‘farmers’ who will grow certain types of algae simply to be used for fuel production.

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