Biodiesel from Sewage Sludge Costs Just 10 Cents More than Regular Diesel!

The key difference between biofuels that are truly green (say, cellulosic ethanol) and those that aren't, like corn-based ethanol, is the biofuel's source: is it a valuable food product - like most blends of ethanol - or is it genuinely a waste product?

I think we can all agree that there is no doubt that sewage sludge is the very definition of a waste product. According to a new EPA report, biodiesel generated from the sewage sludge leftover after wastewater treatment costs just 10 cents more per gallon than conventional diesel.

The secret ingredient is the addition of oil-producing bacteria that create the biofuels as a waste product during photosynthesis. Research at Arizona State University showed that genetic engineering of these photosynthetic bacteria can help to maximize the biodiesel output they release. Potentially, this type of sewage-generated biodiesel could be on the market for as little as $3.11 per gallon (less than regular gas in Seattle, thank you very much!)

There are a few potential stumbling blocks here, though. According to Inhabitat, 

The best practices for getting biodiesel this way have hardly been worked out yet, according to the study by EPA scientist David Kargbo. Among the biggest problems is finding a way to collect sludge that is high in lipids — the material the reaction uses — ensuring that traces of pharmaceutical chemicals don’t make it into the fuel. Finally, regulators haven’t even begun to assess what it would mean to transfer large amounts of sewage sludge to private companies for processing into biodiesel.

Operationally, it seems like retrofitting all of our sewage-treatment plants to create large amounts of commercially-viable biodiesel could be very challenging. But compared to other biodiesel alternatives like waste vegetable oil from restaurants or soy-based biodiesel from the Amazon rainforest, the idea is looking more attractive every day.

Via: Inhabitat

I Thought Ford Was Dead...Now they're in the Algae Business, Too?

Ford may not have willingly accepted federal bailouts to save itself from its catastrophic management policies, its bloated unions, and its shoddy models that doomed it to dinosaur status by 2009. A quick visit to Detroit will confirm just how desperate times are for the American auto industry.

But increasingly, Ford is looking more and more relevant by the day. I think they were about the last major player you would expect to get involved in something as innovative as cellulosic ethanol.

According to Inhabitat, Ford has hired a team of scientists to investigate algae-based biodiesel as a major source of new energy for future models.

One of the scientists described the basis for this research program:

“Algae have some very desirable characteristics as a potential biofuel feedstock and Ford wants to show its support for any efforts that could lead to a viable, commercial-scale application of this technology. At this point, algae researchers are still challenged to find economical and sustainable ways for commercial-scale controlled production and culturing of high oil-producing algae.”

I never thought I would live to see the day that: 1) Ford has sustainability-focused scientific research rather than just churning out the latest SUV; 2) they could possibly be ahead of the curve in one day releasing a mass market vehicle that runs on algae biofuel.

Though I'm half cringing when I say this, you go Ford!

Algae-fueled Planes One Step Closer to Reality

So we've already seen bio-fuel powered aircraft and algae-fueled biodiesel cars....why not combine the two and get the maximum environmental benefit?

Biofuel made from algae, also known as cellulosic ethanol has the advantage of requiring far less carbon emissions to produce than corn or sugar-based ethanol. It is cleaner burning and less damaging to the environment overall. It also avoids the ethical dilemma of burning foodstuffs to create fuel for cars, which seems especially insensitive to developing countries struggling with legitimate hunger problems of their own. According to PhysOrg, Algae is also useful for its ability to consume atmospheric carbon dioxide, where other plants would be used for agriculture.



European aerospace company EADS is developing a Diamond DA 42 that is fueled partially with cellulosic ethanol from algae. The plane debuted at the Berlin Air Show in June 2010.

According to Inhabitat, the algae-based fuel has such high energy content that the plane would require a half-gallon (1.5 liters) less fuel per hour than with conventional fuel.

Even the Pentagon is taking notice. A new federal DARPA project aims to test a 50-50 blend of cellulosic ethanol on military planes within the next year. If that is any indication, it may be only a matter of time before the fuel makes the transition to regular commercial aircraft, one of the biggest and most entrenched contributors to climate change.

Via: Inhabitat

Promising New Research on Cellulosic Ethanol

Cellulosic ethanol is one of the most promising developments in the bio-fuel arena that large fleets have the potential to cultivate. Unlike other bio-fuels, such as corn or soy-based ethanol, which according to a recent EPA report may in fact create larger carbon footprints than conventional petroleum gasoline, cellulosic ethanol has the potential to yield up to 200% more biodiesel oil than soy-based alternatives. One of the least-developed bio-fuels, cellulosic ethanol is derived from algae in a process that extracts biodiesel from the fats in the algae material. See the diagram below for a more detailed explanation of the extraction process:

This makes cellulosic ethanol one of the most carbon-efficient fuel options on the market apart from the more unlikely hydrogen fuel-cell options. According to Evergreen Fleets, cellulosic ethanol represents an 85% reduction in net carbon emissions per gallon than conventional petroleum gasoline. Unfortunately, the algae-growing operations necessary to produce commercially viable quantities of cellulosic ethanol have not been established to a sufficient scale for fleets to purchase large amounts of this new fuel.

Current research at Sandia National Laboraties (begun in 2007) has focused on breeding the optimal strains of algae that have the highest fat ratios. According to Ali Kriscenski at Inhabitat, "the biggest challenge is to make algae biocrude within a fraction of the time that nature’s biomass decomposition occurs and to do it economically, for less than $60 a barrel."

Most university research has focused on creating apparatuses that will do exactly that: create a pressure-cooker environment to extract fats from the algae and convert it to biodiesel in an economical timeframe.

One such project at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, titled "BioGrow", uses old computer parts to create such a vessel for algae production. Using an Apple G4 CPU tower, PVC pipes, acrylic panels, an Apple iMac CRT, and high density foam for insulation, graduate students modified the old computer to allow the iMac CRT to turn on different light spectrums and to adjust the temperature. The makeshift tank contains a water pump that aerates the algae for a faster energy conversion process. The byproducts can be used for feedstock, fertilizer and high-end pharmaceuticals because algae is so rich in protein and nutrients. In addition, this method helps alleviate the problem of electronic waste, which often leach toxic heavy metals into the soil and groundwater when they end up in landfills.

Another group of scientists at Stanford University attempted a slightly different method by inserting electrodes directly into algae pools, attempting to intercept the electron flow that occurs during the natural process of photosynthesis. This method is a type of photosynthetic electrolysis that produces no emissions other than oxygen, distinguishing it from the more mainstream production method of cellulosic ethanol. However, this experiment was not able to produce enough energy per algae cell to be commercially viable for mass production.

At the University of Michigan, researchers have also been experimenting with a pressure-cooker apparatus that will reduce the time and money needed to convert algae into biodiesel. According to Sarah Parsons (also of Inhabitat),

"The pressure cooker works by heating microalgae up to about 300 degrees, forming an algae soup. The high temperatures combined with the pressure breaks the plants down, releasing the native oil and causing proteins and carbohydrates to decompose, adding to the fuel yield. Cooking the “soup” for 30 minutes to an hour yields a crude bio-oil, which can then be converted to fuel."

This process has the advantage of eliminating the need for high-oil content strains of algae, allowing microscopic and less-oily species of algae to be used and removing the need for drying out the algae outdoors. An indoor production mechanism of cellulosic ethanol, rather than drying out algae in vast outdoor pools, has the potential to be widely cultivated, assuming reasonable installation costs, even by individual fleets themselves.

So what does the future look like for cellulosic ethanol? Sapphire Energy, a San Diego-based energy startup, has pioneered the first cellulosic ethanol-powered vehicle, the aptly-named Algaeus.

Claiming to reach fuel efficiencies of 150 miles per gallon on a fuel blend of 5% cellulosic ethanol, the company outfitted a plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius to run across the country on 25 gallons alone! The possible fuel economies of future cellulosic ethanol vehicles is staggering if you imagine how efficient the models would be if, instead of a 5% blend, an E85 or B40 blend were produced, as has already been manufactured for corn and soy-based biodiesel.






Via: Inhabitat, Discovery News