http://gigaom.com/2013/01/17/2013-could-be-a-make-or-break-year-for-algae-fuel/ Fri, 24 May 2013 16:45:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://gigaom.com/2013/01/17/2013-could-be-a-make-or-break-year-for-algae-fuel/#comment-1302299 Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:22:01 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=602126#comment-1302299 Algae likes to grow in warm water, and even the desert of NM gets cold at night, slowing the growth of this plant.
America is over the next number of years converting it’s power plants from coal to natural gas. With the technology of Condensing Flue Gas Heat Recovery the heat energy can be recovered from these power plants exhaust. This recovered energy could be used to heat these many hundreds of acres of algae ponds day and night, summer and winter.
Algae also benefits from CO2. When the heat energy has been recovered from the exhaust, what is left is COOL CO2 that can then be injected into these algae ponds.
There is evaporation from these warm ponds, and a lot of this evaporation can be replenished with the water recovered from this combusted natural gas.
America could have a lot of natural gas power plants across the country operating at near Zero emissions and reducing global warming. The CO2 would be converted to oxygen as it enters the atmosphere. And how many full time jobs could be created from all this waste energy?

]]> http://gigaom.com/2013/01/17/2013-could-be-a-make-or-break-year-for-algae-fuel/#comment-1300824 Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:38:06 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=602126#comment-1300824 whenever I see articles on this subject matter, the cost analysis always seems to miss the “biggie” – the cost to separate oil from water and biomass (imho).
Growing algae in bulk is relatively easy.
My perception was that the real innovation needed for this industry to take off, is cost effective separation of the oils from everything else.
Katie can you comment?

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