Spanish scientists search for fuel of the future

[Matt_in_STL]

In a forest of tubes eight metres high in eastern Spain scientists hope they have found the fuel of tomorrow: bio-oil produced with algae mixed with carbon dioxide from a factory.

Almost 400 of the green tubes, filled with millions of microscopic algae, cover a plain near the city of Alicante, next to a cement works from which the C02 is captured and transported via a pipeline to the "blue petroleum" factory.

<SNIP>

The other great advantage of the system is that it is a depollutant -- it absorbs the C02 which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere.

"It's ecological oil," said the founder and chairman of BFS, French engineer Bernard Stroiazzo-Mougin, who worked in oil fields in the Middle East before coming to Spain.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110331/bs_afp/spainenergyalternativeenvironmentresearch
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I have to say I am a bit leery of any type of oil being a depollutant and "ecological" however, if that is the case, this could be something to watch.

[buddysmellgood]

1. There are quite a few research projects like this. It could be a

partial solution.

[Andy823]

2. This sounds good!

This is what we need to be doing here in the U.S., finding ways to cut oil imports and find renewable fuels! If his one works out, it's even better since it helps absorb CO2. I think there are many things that would work, if we just started investing in the research instead of giving tax breaks and subsidies to big oil!

[hunter]

3. Algae is tricky to grow.

You could accomplish the same sort of thing with a greenhouse full of plants. These greenhouses would be much easier to maintain then a complex system of pipes and panels carrying aquatic algae.

Or you might even skip the greenhouses... the carbon dioxide emitted by the power plants still gets absorbed.

Compare algae to an E/E favorite: Hemp. With this plant you get drugs, fiber, oil, and the remaining stuff might be turned into a fuel like dimethyl ether which is a fine replacement for diesel and liquid propane gas.