Biotech breakthrough claim: commercial algae fuel now possible

[Tac]

From their own website:

"We're currently achieving ethanol production at the rate of 10,000 gallons/acre/year in the lab, approximately 40% of our ultimate target."

So.. its being done. Or its altogether a lie.

[Angus]

It would be interesting to see Moray give a thought on this.
Anyway, my bio education as well as agricultural experience rather sais no to this. It is too much energy per square, since the max is the perfect catch through photosynthetis. These numbers are too high.

[SIK1]

Now my question is why don't we have more diesel powered cars in the US.  In Europe you can get a 45mpg diesel full size Jaguar.  In the US about the only diesels available are the Volkswagon TDI or BMW's.  I had a cousin who drove a Ford Focus diesel in the UK getting 60+ mpg, I cannot conceive why Ford won't sell that option here, and put the silly Prius to shame.

From what I understand it mainly has to do with the different ways the EU and the US handle diesel emissions. The Europeans use urea injection to clean up the the emissions where the epa mandates that vehicle emissions control must be passive with a life span of 50k miles iirc.

That and Americans don't seem to embrace diesel technology they still think of diesel powered vehicles as slow, stinky, and smoky.

[dedalos]

until they realize they have the consumber by the testicles and can charge $100+ per barrel...

 

[MaSonZ]

From what I understand it mainly has to do with the different ways the EU and the US handle diesel emissions. The Europeans use urea injection to clean up the the emissions where the epa mandates that vehicle emissions control must be passive with a life span of 50k miles iirc.

That and Americans don't seem to embrace diesel technology they still think of diesel powered vehicles as slow, stinky, and smoky.

sadly your right with this whole post, but to me the most important part is bolded. it is proven that Diesel, without and emission restrictions (I.e no catalytic converters), burn cleaner then cars with a catalytic converter.

Volkswagen offers a TDI engine in some of their models...for extra money...which should not be the case when fuel economy comes to mind, but the gas engines help big business oil companies.

back to the OP,I only saw mention of diesel in that article. and if all the company can make is diesel we as the consumer could have an issue.... at $30 a barrel for diesel with this technology that is how much cheaper then for a barrel of diesel now? the taxes on diesel would be enormous, or the tables would shift and the prices on regular 85 octane fuel would be the price of diesel. Granted, that would help the food prices a little, considering the farmers that use the diesel for theyre tractors and the trucks that bring the product of the farms to market use diesel and both the farmer and truck driver would be spending less, therefore, in theory, the food prices go down, but the everyday consumer of regular gas would be spending just as much in the end. no?

The technology is great, dont get me wrong, but it needs to level the ground across the whole field, not just the diesel, to win me over completely.

[Strip]

MaSonz, are you forgetting they are also creating ethanol?

It takes very little effort to convert most cars to ethanol on the production line.

Strip

[Tac]

The technology is great, dont get me wrong, but it needs to level the ground across the whole field, not just the diesel, to win me over completely.

1) It's renewable
2) It's non-regionable
3) It's carbon neutral
4) It's Cheap
5) It won't require a huge change in infrastructure.
6) It won't require the huge environmental risks like deep sea drilling, or normal oil drilling.
7) Because it can be produced anywhere, the need to ship the stuff will be drastically reduced.

[SIK1]

Diesel engines can run on almost any type of combustible oil. Rudolph Diesel first used peanut oil to fuel his invention. Diesels are more efficient than gasoline, alcohol, or gasohol fueled engines.

The big down fall of modern diesel engines is cost. A diesel option usually costs the consumer anywhere from 3k to 10k dollars more when compared to a gasoline powered vehicle. They are usually more expensive to maintain, and with diesel prices becoming closer to and sometimes greater than gasoline prices it becomes difficult to justify the expense of a diesel powered vehicle.

[Rash]

Refiners have some flexability on what they produce.  If they don't need to produce diesel anymore, I'm sure the would adjust and refine more gasoline out of the crude.

[F22RaptorDude]

Refiners have some flexability on what they produce.  If they don't need to produce diesel anymore, I'm sure the would adjust and refine more gasoline out of the crude.

I thought Diesel was the aftermath of the crude after the gasoline was extracted? Its been a while my memory isn't reliable 

[SIK1]

Refiners have some flexability on what they produce.  If they don't need to produce diesel anymore, I'm sure the would adjust and refine more gasoline out of the crude.

To a point. You can still only get so much out of a barrel of crude. You would split the difference meaning less diesel, a little more gasoline, and a little more bunker oil, and paving tar. The division of a barrel of oil has to do with it's specific gravity. Gasoline is more easily refined from sweet light crude. heavier oils don't produce gasoline as easily as they produce other heavier petroleum based products such as fuel oil and tar.

[SIK1]

I thought Diesel was the aftermath of the crude after the gasoline was extracted? Its been a while my memory isn't reliable 

Oil refining and the production of diesel as well as other fuels and petro-chemicals has more to do with specific gravity than anything. The actual by products are tar, asphalt, and coke. Think of a barrel of crude like a layer cake. Each layer is a different product and some layers are bigger than others depending on the type of crude being used. You have your real light layer LPG, then your next gasoline, then kerosene, then diesel, then fuel oil, then lubricating oils, paraffin wax, asphalt, tar, and finally coke. So diesel is actually one of the first things refined from a barrel of crude.

[Dadsguns]

Nobody mentioned buying any biotech stock?

[F22RaptorDude]

Nobody mentioned buying any biotech stock?

[F22RaptorDude]

Oil refining and the production of diesel as well as other fuels and petro-chemicals has more to do with specific gravity than anything. The actual by products are tar, asphalt, and coke. Think of a barrel of crude like a layer cake. Each layer is a different product and some layers are bigger than others depending on the type of crude being used. You have your real light layer LPG, then your next gasoline, then kerosene, then diesel, then fuel oil, then lubricating oils, paraffin wax, asphalt, tar, and finally coke. So diesel is actually one of the first things refined from a barrel of crude.

That makes alot of sense thanks for the info