I would be interested also - looking at this company - BEHL.PK

http://www.biocentricenergyalgae.com/home/

I've been following their progress - but it appears that the first harvest was somewhat dismal, and the 2nd batch results are due first of next week...

I wonder, is it possible, without the 100's of millions of $$ from such as Exxon?

BEHL states that they have their strains from a European resource - all fluff & no substance? Can the PBR reactor they have developed be the way to go?

"There are two main components of seaweed / algae that rise interest in producing bioethanol. They are Fucoidan and Alginic Acid. Scientists have already discovered enzyme to break down Fucoidan and now they are currently looking for enzyme to break down alginic acid.

The researchers claim that in addition to producing bio fuel. The seaweed / algae farm will also serve a noble duty by cleaning the Sea of Japan. The seaweed would work to remove some of the excess nutrient salts that flow into the sea from the surrounding land masses

More recent news stated that UK Researchers are also digging this new possibility. Professor Mike Cowling, science and research manager at the Crown Estate, said: "Given Scotland's rugged western coastline and relatively clean seas, it is sensible to examine the farming of seaweeds and sustainable harvesting of natural supplies as a source of energy."

Bear in mind I don't know a damm thing...

I would try to develop a strain that would be a cross breed of an oil [or simple sugars] producing strain & a strain acclimated to local conditions.

I envision producing large quantities of an upgraded strain in closed grow chambers. This would be used to enrich the local strains. Grown in Outdoor ponds, probably in conjunction with sewage treatment plants & power plants [co2]. Ethanol or fungal processes could also be used for co2 enrichment.

I imagine that the reason for using closed systems is the reduce the competition from faster growing local strains that don't produce much besides starches....

There would seem to be lots of different ways to set up a workable process.

Shell has a couple projects the primary one is in Hawaii which is basically and effort toward the direct conversion of marine algae to biofuel. My understanding is that Exxon and BP are both working on similar technology.

I also read about a project in Australia where algae is being used as a power plant CO2 recovery system and then converted to biofuel:

"INTERNATIONAL Power and the privately owned Victor Smorgon Group are working on a process that aims to turn greenhouse emissions from Hazelwood power station into environmentally friendly biofuels. VSG, headed by 93-year-old entrepreneur Victor Smorgon, has secured exclusive rights to technology developed by NASA and Massachusetts Institute of Technology from US company Greenfuel Technologies. It uses micro algae and photosynthesis, the process by which plants breathe, to turn carbon dioxide into biofuels. Under terms of a recently signed deal, VSG will establish a small plant at Hazelwood to test the process. VSG at present produces 12 million litres of biodiesel at its Laverton plant and is in the process of boosting this to 100 million litres. It uses canola, used cooking oil and tallow as feedstock, but recently installed a small facility to turn micro algae to biofuels. VSG chief executive Peter Edwards said the six-month trial at Hazelwood was aimed at testing the particularities of the site. "We know it works as we're already growing algae at our biodiesel plant. We need to look at specific issues like algae growth rates at the site and the make-up of available water." The micro-algae process works like this. Carbon dioxide emissions are fed into a network of plastic tubes holding water, algae and nutrients. Through the action of sunlight on the outside of the tubes, photosynthesis occurs and the algae "eats" the carbon dioxide.
Publication: The Age (5,Mon 13 Nov 2006)
Trial plant to transform emissions into biofuels"

This is three years old and I am not sure what progress has been made, but it sounds like a great idea.

BTW here is the link to the Shell biofuels web site....

http://www.shell.com/home/content/aboutshell/our_business/oil_products/fuels/biofuels/biofuels.html

I also heard today that there is a new project in Malaysia to convert palm waste from palm oil operations to biofuel.

Hi Steve how's the transition from Texas to Malaysia?

I have no doubt that the price of energy will continue to climb & that more & more alternatives will be explored...

Would I be correct in assuming that the palm waste is being converted to ethanol?

Is Shell doing any Butanol projects?

The type of algae that contains the most oil are diatoms. That's because they are encased within a heavier-than-water glass shell and would sink to the bottom of the lake if they lack the oil to give them buoyancy. The best time to harvest diatoms for oil is late summer, where the lower density of the warm water will result in them producing more oil to compensate for it.

Obviously long slim filamentous types will have less oil, as their relatively large surface area gives them a measure of buoyancy.

2008, I heard a lecture by Bruce Logan in Chicago on direct electricity production by microbes in waste water. Other strains create Hydrogen.

www.engr.psu.edu/ce/enve/logan/.../NewScientist_032004.pdf

Page not found

Bruce Logan seems to be advocating for the bogus hydrogen economy....

The link is for waste water to electricity Reid mentioned.

Actually Bruce Logan is trying to raise money to upscale his lab experiments to power plant studies. If the pilot plant studies work well, the Microbial Fuels Cells can be adapted for either hydrogen or electricity production. If or when the hydrogen economy comes to a halt, we still need electricity, plus the main benefit is the feed stock is sewage, and the output is cleaner water. I did not come away from the presentation with the idea of a "pie in the Sky" hydrogen for every use.

Try this site:

http://www.microbialfuelcell.org/www/

Ried