Internal Combustion Engine Rules

I've looked at your short history.

I quote, "I have recently learned that we could be powering our engines with algae".

How did you recently learn this? Who told you? Do you have any credible references?

I have recently learned that you are radical.

I remember an article in the New Scientist some years ago [I'm of an advanced age] where a furnace was fuelled by fluidised bed algae. This was successful but the technology disappeared. I put this down to oil [and coal] industry vested interests.

Drying and fluidising the algae should be known processes. All you need then is a modified dirty swimming pool and sun. The latter could be problem for UK. A refinement would be to genetically engineer the algae for max efficiency. I bet that's already on the shelf in an obscure PhD somewhere.

Every oil company in the world is working on direct conversion of algae to bio diesel. It will come eventually and a lot of money is being spent on it.

What the heck are you ranting about? Who says money is not being poured into this?

This is an engineering forum, not a rant forum

If you had interesting information on the manufacturing proccess or efficencies involved with algae biodiesel that would be one thing, but abstract rants aren't very beneficial to anyone.

I was actually hoping one of you knew more abou this but I can see that this is not the case. What a friendly bunch. Have a great life.

If you had actually asked a question, I would have been happy to share what I know about it. You didn't ask a question.

Bye.

Listen up bub. I actually happen to be researching into ways to combine wastewater treatment and biodiesel production through the use of algae, so I'm in a position to talk about it. Now if you had actually asked a reasonable question, everyone here who knows something about the subject matter will be pleased to oblige you with an answer, myself included. However, instead of doing that, you chose to go off on a rant, and to make matters worse, you had to drag out that stupid old conspiracy theory about oil companies and what not. We have much better things to do than to engage a conspiracy theorist's crackpot fantasies. So you have only yourself to blame for the negative responses you recieved.

Sayonara, auf weidershen, bon voyage, goodbye, cai qian and what else have you. I'm reporting this thread to admin to be shut down as a political rant rather than a rational, sensible discussion on alternative energy.

I started a new thread & would love to hear more about what anyone knows about Algae, especially more details than you get from reading puff pieces that are common recently. The economics seem promising

Biodiesel from algae has been under development for years, and does (and will) attract investment in proportion to perceived profit potential, just as all the many alternatives do. Unless you are proposing to invest some of your own millions into algae biofuels development, you will find that you will still be, as you say, paying to let someone else be rich. That is essentially the nature of capitalism.

Maybe algae doesn't grow in the desert and we have to leave the balance of power with those countries. Why would we want to do this when they do not value women.

That's really not appropriate for this website.

But on your subject, I have heard about using algae as fuels as well. I haven't done much research but in general the problem is with human consumption not necessarily the fuel.

What are the bi-products of biodiesel?

I ve had to maintain swimming pools. Algae grow from nowhere. My vote is for algaepower. Disregard the vested interests. Lets do it.

Money does not grow on trees, unlike algae which takes it's form as mosses on the northwest side of the trunk.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/25/smallbusiness/algae_oil_fuel.fsb/index.htm

Bill Gates has invested in Sapphire Energy in California. Boeing has experimented with this as an additive to jet fuel. I simply wanted to know if anyone here, with way more knowledge than I have, thinks this could be a way for us to go, rather than digging up what is under the ground, why not look at what is on the surface and use some of that material instead.

I know manufacturing algae on a large scale is very expensive, but are we not looking for ways to change how we affect the planet. I thought this way would be better than using a food source as part of how we power our transportation industry.

I was just wondering what the experts, certainly not me, thought about using this as a fuel source and what the drawbacks may be.