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Can Algae power the world |
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Algae is used for making fertilizers and is used in farmlands. But did you know that it can power your vehicles and can be used as an energy source at homes? Algae fuel or algal biofuel is an alternative to fossil fuel that uses algae as its source of natural deposits. Like fossil fuel, algae fuel releases CO2 when burnt, but unlike fossil fuel, algae fuel and other biofuels only release CO2 recently removed from the atmosphere via photosynthesis as the algae or plant grew. The energy crisis and the world food crisis have ignited interest in algaculture (farming algae) for making biodiesel and other biofuels using land unsuitable for agriculture. Among algal fuels' attractive characteristics are that they can be grown with minimal impact on fresh water resources, can be produced using saline and wastewater, have a high flash point, and are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment if spilled One species of algae in particular, sugar kelp (Laminaria saccharina), is exciting scientists from Norway. It grows prolifically along the country?s coasts and, as its name suggests, contains a lot of energy—about three times as much sugar as sugar beet. That makes it suitable for turning into food and fuel In another example, the algae are sown onto ropes. When miniature plants (sporophytes) have been formed, they sink and are able to grow in the sea. After about six months, when they algae have grown on the ropes, they are harvested and processed on land through bio-refining processes. Advantages:- Algae biofuels don?t need much space to produce the same amount of energy. Algae biofuels dont need good arable land to grow on. Otherwise unusable rocky land or deserts are fine for growing algae biofuels. Algae biofuels don?t need clean water – they do just fine on wastewater The algae used for biofuels are quick-growing. The mass of algae can double in size within 24 hours in the right conditions or even quicker than this. Source http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/20/algae-power-our-world/ www.wikipedia.org |
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15 Comments
Thank you for sharing, Afra!
Posted 27-11-2014 13:14
Thank You Afra for such an informative report.I think it can be a susstainable source of biofuel.
Posted 29-10-2014 16:18
As we find more & more sources of sustainable energy, the better it is going to be for the environment.
Thanks for the report, Afra.
Posted 28-10-2014 19:12
Well reported Afra.
Algae is another sustainable source of energy. More research & information is sought on this. If this is handy source then our dependence on fossil fuels will reduce.
Posted 27-10-2014 21:00
It seems that burning algae makes neutral CO2 balance! It's a cool finding. Due to global warming there are so many coastlines suffered from abnormal algae boom. If we can gather the algae and make it into a biofuel, it will be really advantageous :)
Posted 27-10-2014 10:38
Yes indeed. These sources of energy along with wind energy, tidal energy, solar energy, geothermal energy causes less pollution and is more eco-friendly than coal and petroleum.
Posted 26-10-2014 21:36
Oh that is great Aysha!
Posted 26-10-2014 21:34
I'll be taking 'Biofuel' as my field of research in my MS project and thesis. This is helpful to select a topic.
Posted 26-10-2014 19:19
That's a very good idea! Algae are all around us and we just acknowledge them as 'gross, watery, green thing' and choose to do nothing with them. Actually, if we can gather all the algae, I believe that they can actually power the world. I'd say it's quite a sustainable source because algae are easy to grow and they kind of grow on their own whether we want them or not. So, I think it's the best to use everything to the fullest potential and waste as little as possible. Thanks for sharing:)
Posted 26-10-2014 16:13
Glad to know research in bio-fuels is taking great strides. Thanks for the inersting info Afra !
Posted 25-10-2014 18:57
Thank you She Mei Tan
Posted 25-10-2014 13:32
I like your article. It's easy to read and comprehend. In Malaysia, we also have various companies running such energy production too.
Posted 24-10-2014 22:57
You are welcome
Posted 24-10-2014 21:34
Thanks for highlighting this. Interesting advantages. I was also pleasantly surprised when I knew for the first time that algae can be an amazing source of bio-fuel. I had posted a report on it(below link) with pics how we can extract bio-fuel from algae.
http://tunza.eco-generation.org/worldReportView.jsp?viewID=4321&searchType=content&searchName=alga&pageNumber=1
Posted 24-10-2014 16:24
Thank you Afra for interesting report. It's amazing. I will goggle about it. Being agrick ture students, we often consider a late as the bio fertilizer but never thought of this energy part.
Posted 24-10-2014 11:31