Energy math for beginners

Energy math for beginners

Solazyme, an outfit that develops techniques for converting vats of algae into engine fuel, can also make oils for industries, such as the food industry.

Ideally, these oils could provide greater health benefits, cost less, and be more environmentally friendly to grow than current cooking oils.

"We can provide tailor-made oils," Dillon said.

This is a power of algae itself and solazyme processes. First, the creatures: algae are high fat. ever notice a sperm whale? what's their fast food?

Oil deposits of today are in reality more formed from algae than the dinosaurs who ate the dinosurs who ate the etc...who ate the algae.

"These organisms have the most efficient pathways on the planet for oil production," added Jonathan Wolfson, Solazyme's CEO.

Oil from the algae can then be

used to make fuel or cooking oil.

More importantly, the algaw can probably be turned to prodice specific oils of use for the pharmaceritical industry, which is currently heavily dependednt on "coal tars" for raw stock for everything from aspirin to anti-biotics.

Solazyme uses a fermentation process that the company claims allows it to produce large amounts of biomass rapidly. The company inserts algae (typically one species) into a vat, dumps in a bunch of sugar, and then controls the pressure and other environmental factors inside the vat to induce the algae to metabolize the sugar into body oil.

"The algae are very productive on sugar," said Wolfson. "They are bathed in their energy source."

In an industrial fermenter, switching crops effectively involves cleaning out the fermenter and inserting the desired mix of microorganisms and sugars.

Another plus is these markets--along with the markets for industrial oils--might be easier to crack than the transportation fuel business. Although Solazyme inked a research-and-development deal with Chevron, getting a fuel company to commit to a new type of liquid fuel is a gargantuan task. Don Paul, CTO of Chevron, estimated last year that it takes about 15 years and $3 billon to develop a new liquid fuel.

At the food level, people will likely resist the idea of buying algal cooking oil, but it probably won't taste like a pond. The marketing departments in food processing giants will also likely work on some clever names, too. After all, if they just called health-food supplement Spirulina "pond scum," it probably wouldn't sell either.

The remaining marterial will be largely protein, possibly useful as animal or fish feed.

Now, why isn;t this a big deal for the looming oil shortages?

functionally oil or coal, whether north sea or wesson, or peabody or whatever is a capacitor for old sunlight. sugar is the same. now, move the sugar (btus) grow the sugar (btus) heat the sugar (btus) refine the fat (btus) and you get? a lot of btus consumed.

designer oils on the cheap? possibly. great for cosmetics and pharma industry.

fuel substitute? the numbers cannot add up.

oils from algae using sunlight that would otherwise be btus added to the atmosphere? great idea.

methane slurry being used as part of landfill reclamation and recycling feeding the methane to fuel cells? awesome.

but this article only envisages using biologic catalysts to turn simple hydrocarbons into complex ones for a given end. that's not a conservation or reclamation of energy anywhere.

When talking about this kind of innovation with your friends, remember the math.