Hyundai Motors Will Reportedly No Longer Develop Internal Combustion Engines

[DaveMcT]

A big issue with open ponds is "contamination" by other algae types. The best oil producers are not the toughest little boogers.

There was a product called "BioFence" that enclosed a circulating mix that was constantly pumped along glass tubes set into a fence format. It worked but temperature nutrient and dissolved gas levels had to be tightly controlled. The algae could go from happy to dead in a very short time. The oil was extracted using ultrasonics to shatter the algae cells and gravity. Oil floats to the top and the sludge goes for animal feed or compost.

Another guy grew tilapia fish as a commercial "crop" in his ponds, along with a less intensive algae system but costs were still much too high.

 

[mj2k]

A big issue with open ponds is "contamination" by other algae types. The best oil producers are not the toughest little boogers.

There was a product called "BioFence" that enclosed a circulating mix that was constantly pumped along glass tubes set into a fence format. It worked but temperature nutrient and dissolved gas levels had to be tightly controlled. The algae could go from happy to dead in a very short time. The oil was extracted using ultrasonics to shatter the algae cells and gravity. Oil floats to the top and the sludge goes for animal feed or compost.

Another guy grew tilapia fish as a commercial "crop" in his ponds, along with a less intensive algae system but costs were still much too high.

Fixing that was part of what the NREL were working on - 'building a better alga' by genetically modifying one of the better oil producers with genes from one of the tougher strains. Though sensible this probably did them no favors in terms of funding since it was around the time of the 'gm foods' media frenzy.

If it had worked it'd no doubt still be more expensive than pulling oil straight out of the ground, but as you say the green credentials are very good (very little waste, no need to tie up valuable farmland or cut down forests, and very low refinement environmental costs too), which would make it far more interesting to people nowadays.

Edit: interesting - I haven't checked the NREL site for years, but it looks like they have picked up algae research a bit more lately

Algal Biofuels

www.nrel.gov