Is it Possible to Generate 3 Fuels from the Same Algae?

Your questions start in the middle of nowhere and go in all different directions.....You state no motive or purpose and no goal....What would be left after each process would depend on what algae strain you are using, the method of process treatment, basically you would need to know pretty much what your fuel production goals were etc etc.....

In reply to your questions:

1.No, yes.

2.Yes.

3. Why do you think this can work?

What is the point, what is the expected efficiency at every step? Plenty of things can be done with dismal efficiencies. That is the question you have to answer to yourself.

Very smart people have difficulties with the first step alone.

Thank you redfred. Appreciate your thoughtful answer. You understood my question. One of the other replies seemed to think all I said was totally unclear. Anyway, what you said is interesting. I was unaware of the possible chemical variations of algal oil from different strains.If I understand you then you may be suggesting that different species may be generating oils with different chemical compositions? I have read that there are various physical structures for each species of algae and that each of these may demand a seperate approach to extraction of the oil. What works for one is inefficient for another. I remember an entry on Oilgae.com that was encouraging people to think of more purposes for algae than just using it to generate fuel. I realize that has been the bent I have taken here but your answer brings this point up again. Thank you.

Yes. First select an algae that has a fair lipid content. Extract the lipids as diesel fuel, reacting them with ethanol from step 2 if they won't work direct. Run the residue from the lipid extraction through the IRE multimicrobe process to convert the polysaccharides to ethanol, and burn the residue left to generate electricity to charge electric vehicles. Doing it and making money doing it may not have a positive correlation.

Hello Deefburger. I am not clear on something. What process were you using to extract the oil in your backyard? It sounded like you are talking about extracting it from algae but later you say that "I haven't used algae or extracted oil from algae yet." So I am needing a little clarification here. Btw, what were you using your syngas for? Was it running an engine? Interesting about the distillation column. That wouldnt be too hard to try. Thanks.

I was using bio mass. Algae is just one form. As for the process, you can do a decent job creating syngas from bio mass using an old pressure cooker. Put dry(as in little or no water) bio mass inside and run a pipe from the vent down to the underside of the pressure cooker. Install a gas burner there and let the gases vent into the burner.

You don't need all of the gasses to run the process, so if you split the pipe to a condenser, you can capture some of the lightweight hydrocarbons and most of the heavier ones in a cold tank. The rest you burn under the pressure cooker. You have to start the process with another fuel, but only until the syngas starts to form. Then it should run on it's own gas.

CAUTION! Make sure your pipe and vent don't clog or just install a pressure relief valve in the lid of the pressure cooker or you may be making a bomb! An over pressure valve from a water heater should work fine and is cheap and easy to get. Heck, install two for good measure.

If your algae has a lot of oil in it, then this method using the splitter on the pipe to a cold tank should capture it. Another way with oily bio mass is to send ALL of the syngas to the cold tank, and then tap the top of the cold tank for the lighter gasses and send those to the burner.

Oil extraction without heat is trickier. TSP can break the cell walls and help to float the oil out, but then you have to remove the TSP. I prefer just making syngas and condensing the oils out, burn the lighter fuel and the cooker will be holding only charcoal when the process is complete.

Some coal fired power plants use this method on a large scale to fuel turbines, and then they use the charcoal to fuel steam turbines. More efficient plants take the waste heat from the syngas process and feed it into the steam process.

That is interesting about condensing the oils out. I havent heard that one yet but I have to tell you that it does make sense. I got the opportunity to go to a tire recycling plant in Albuquerque that heated tire shreddings until near their flash point and then at different points they had taps on this pipline and extracted various petrochemicals one of them being diesel. ( stunk to high heaven. smelled just like burning tires. lol) . They mentioned also extracting monomers for making ....plexi?? or some type of plastic. It was interesting because this setup also worked for any kind of plastics that you could imagine even thermosetting plastics like fiberglass. So for instance instead of burning the fiberglass off of circuit boards, it was recycled back into petrochemicals and the electronics with the precious metal content were gathered at the end of the process. When you say "cold tank" I am not absolutely sure of what you mean but I am envisioning that the pipe with the mixture of hot gasses passing through it is surrounded by a tank with cold circulating water in it? Basically a heat exchanger??

I was thinking later that if I have an inkling of what this condensing cold tank is it may work like hydrothermal activity in geology. Not sure if you are familiar. As superheated steam rises from down below, it carries with it various minerals in suspension. As the steam travels towards the surface of the earth, it all gradually cools. Each mineral has a temperature that is needed for it to stay in suspension. When the steam drops below that temperature, that mineral will drop out and gather with other molecules of the same compound forming crystals. So I am thinking of this column as possibly operating on the same general principle that as temperature drops in the mixture of gasses, that at different points along the ascent, that different things drop out also. Is that what we are talking about?

Hi Jerry. Sounds like you were working on the kind of projects I am interested in. Did you use algae alot in your digester? Interesting about methane replacing most of the diesel fuel.I do recall reading , I think about the gobar setups in India, that they would mix diesel and methane. I do know about scrubbing the methane with iron filings. You're changing the filings into iron sulphide and with the sulphur gone out of the H2s , you are sending hydrogen of with the methane to the carburetor or fuel intake. Then you just have a percentage of CO2 to get rid of. Wonder if that can just be sent through a water tank with growing algae in it and the gas collected after it has passed through? You can also contact me at

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