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Feb 9, 2008 12:45 pm US/Central
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Algae Could Be The Next Cleaner, Greener Fuel
(WCCO)
A
new report this week says greenhouse gas emissions could double in the next 30
years.
Not
from buses and cars, but from ethanol made out of corn.
Scientists
said turning forests into fields to grow fuel creates way more carbon dioxide
than it saves, but with shrinking oil reserves and rising gas prices the search
for a cleaner, greener fuel for transportation is critical.
However,
the biofuel most likely to replace petroleum comes from the most unlikely
place.
In
the laboratory of Dr. Roger Ruan over at the University of Minnesota,
he is helping discover the fuel of the future.
The
green stuff in his lab isn't just any old pond scum -- its hundreds of species
of algae -- the next cleaner, greener alternative to petroleum.
"Dr.
Ruan everybody knows what algae looks like. So if somebody just picked up a
bunch of algae out of their pond, or out of the front of the lake. How does
that turn into oil?" WCCO-TV's Don Shelby
asks.
"Oh
right now, the common way is simply by dry it and then press oil out and then
use solvent to extract the oil out," said Dr. Roger Ruan, from the University of Minnesota.
What's
extracted from the algae is basically the same kind of oil that comes from soy
beans which is used to make biodiesel fuel.
Ruan
is experimenting with different ways to grow the algae too.
He
has created a closed system so the water doesn't evaporate in the summer or
freeze in the winter.
Another
benefit, unlike most conventional fuels, is that algae is non-toxic.
"Some
countries use it as food," Ruan said.
Other
places simply use it at a spa treatment. And the algae grows so fast, some
species can be harvested daily.
"But
here's the big question though, Dr. Ruan. How much oil can you get from an acre,
let's say, of algae?" asks Shelby.
"Soy
beans for example we can get about 50 gallons per acre per year, but these
algae can potentially get 5,000 gallons per acre per year or more," said
Ruan.
That's
100 times more biodiesel from algae.
The
Department of Energy estimates that we could replace all the petroleum used in
the U.S.
in one year by ultimately getting oil from just 15,000 square miles of algae.
That's about one-sixth the size of Minnesota.
It's
no wonder Dr. Ruan is looking beyond the lab for the right stuff to grow algae
for fuel.
The
basic science is algae get fat. They've got a lot of oil in them. They get fat
from eating nutrients, but where do the nutrients come from?
In
the process at the University
Of Minnesota you might
say they're people powered.
"What
is the algae feeding on?" asked Shelby.
"Well
the composite material is sewage or waste water," said Bob Polta, from the
Metropolitan Waste Water Treatment.
That's
right -- the algae will grow by feeding on our sewage waste.
It
ends up being a real benefit for the Metropolitan Waste Water Treatment
Facility where Bob Polta is the manager of research and development.
"From
our treatment standpoint it's the idea that they're going to consume, or take
up nitrogen and phosphorus which we need to do to meet our discharge standards,
that really is a plus for us," said Polta.
Not
only will the algae clean the waste water before it enters the river -- it will
reduce greenhouse gases by absorbing carbon dioxide from the solid waste that's
burned.
Don:
What is algae?
Polta:
Well they're microscopic ... plants essentially that take carbon dioxide from
the air like grass and other plants and nutrients from their surrounding and
produce cell material.
Don:
But they end up getting really fat don't they? They contain a lot of what
scientists refer to as lipids, but those are fat oils.
Polta:
Some of the algae -- I wasn't aware of this before we started working with Dr.
Ruan -- but some algae can contain up to 50 percent lipid material. So this is almost like squeezing oil out of olives.
Xcel
Energy just contributed $150,000 grants to Dr. Ruan's algae-to-fuel research.
The
Met Council hopes to be growing algae out at the waste water treatment center
by this summer.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)