Company makes diesel with sun, water, CO2

Interesting read for anyone who is into this stuff

IF this is at all possible, imagine the impact imagine the impact on the oil and gas sector

 

 

A US biotechnology company says it can produce the fuel that runs cars and jet engines using the same ingredients that make grass grow.

Joule Unlimited has invented a genetically-engineered organism that it says simply secretes diesel fuel or ethanol wherever it finds sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company says it can manipulate the organism to produce the renewable fuels on demand at unprecedented rates, and can do it in facilities large and small at costs comparable to the cheapest fossil fuels.

What can it mean? No less than "energy independence", Joule's website tells the world, even if the world's not quite convinced.

"We make some lofty claims, all of which we believe, all of which we've validated, all of which we've shown to investors," said Joule chief executive Bill Sims.
 


Tony Halliday's picture

Posts: 2500

Date Joined: 14/06/07

not new, just refined a bit

Mon, 2011-02-28 08:42

not new, just refined a bit more.

We looked at algae that can grown in saline ponds, that take CO2 from the atmpshere and use the suns energy to convert via photosynthesis into cells containing organic oil.

Algae is harvested, centrifuged for the oil and reused in the pods as feed stock!

 

but here is the catch, the energy needed to get the oil out of the cells and into a fuel form it almost as much as the oil value recovered, so not always ecconomical.

I'd be very interested in their harvest and process costing, thats what makes these things fly or die.

 

ps in some parts of the world the carbon footprint of biofuels is higher than the carbon foot print of oil fuels!!! FACT. A lot of smoke and mirrors in the bio fuel game.

____________________________________________________________________________

Tony Halliday: ~Meals on Reels ~

 It takes a strong fish to swim against the current. Even a dead one can float with it

"It is always in season for old men to learn." Aeschylus (525-456 BC)

"In a mad world only the mad are sane." Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998)

Lucky Tim's picture

Posts: 2536

Date Joined: 28/11/07

 probably still be the same

Mon, 2011-02-28 08:58

 probably still be the same price at the pump though. Or BP will buy it and shut it down.

Tony Halliday's picture

Posts: 2500

Date Joined: 14/06/07

Tim, I have been doing

Mon, 2011-02-28 09:51

Tim, I have been doing biodiesel research for close on 10 years now into the possibilities for a retirement business venture, so I can safely say I know quite a lot of the costing, pit falls and technology out there.

My biggest gripe is guys floating capital venture companies on these scientific breakthrough, then bleeding them dry to line their pockets like leaches.

We need big dollars invested in bio fuel research, but we also need control on who is spending what or who's money how.

A lot of academics using these grants as cash-cows to keep their pet research going in areas that are not economically viable or ever will be.

The good old chip fryer oil process is still the best on cost, but smells cr@p if you following a vehicle running on it...lol. I know my mate runs a nice little set up in Midlands, but you need to be getting the oil for free or less than 10c a litre to make sense in money saved terms.

 

what we need research into is high oil yield algae or other organism which can increase the yield per ton.

 

____________________________________________________________________________

Tony Halliday: ~Meals on Reels ~

 It takes a strong fish to swim against the current. Even a dead one can float with it

"It is always in season for old men to learn." Aeschylus (525-456 BC)

"In a mad world only the mad are sane." Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998)

Bodie's picture

Posts: 3758

Date Joined: 05/11/07

its all a step in the right

Mon, 2011-02-28 09:55

its all a step in the right direction,

 

Something needs to be done shortly to control the larger oil and gas producers. For far too long there has been no compeitive solution bought to market to combat oil prices. Electric cars have been on the cards for year and years, and hybrid cars really didnt go anywhere.