Algae | News & Views

German power plant testing CO2-scrubbing algae

Swedish energy group Vattenfall said it had launched a major pilot project using algae to absorb greenhouse gas emissions from a coal-fired power plant in eastern Germany.

The two-million-euro (2.6-million-dollar) trial run, which will continue until October 2011, in the depressed Lausitz mining region is one of several experimental attempts in the sector using algae to slash carbon dioxide output.

“The microalgae use climate-killing CO2 to create valuable biomass,” the chairman of Vattenfall Europe Mining and Generation, Hartmuth Zeiss, said in a statement.

“Moreover the new technology will bring useful know-how to the Lausitz and increase its importance as a region for energy production.”

Half the funding for the project called green MiSSiON (Microalgae Supported CO2 Sequestration in Organic Chemicals and New Energy) comes from Vattenfall, the other half from state and European Union subsidies.

The gas emitted at the Senftenberg brown-coal-fired plant is being pumped through a kind of broth using algae cultivated in 12 plastic tanks.

“The aim is to find out what kinds of algae work with brown coal dust and then, how economical this kind of CO2 reduction is,” a spokesman for the Vattenfall division, Axel Happe, told AFP.

The biomass produced in the process can be used to produce biodiesel, to feed biogas power plants and as a nutritious supplement in fish food, Happe said.

He said it was difficult to quantify the amount of CO2 emissions normally emitted at Senftenberg or estimate how sizeable the reduction could be with the use of algae, which can scrub 10 times as much CO2 as land-based plants.

But he said the company aimed to publish initial results in late 2011.

A project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2008 found that diverting CO2 through an algae broth could reduce emissions by as much as 85 percent.

Vattenfall is the third biggest electricity provider in Germany.

Last month, European aerospace giant EADS unveiled what it called the world’s first “hybrid” aircraft to run on algae fuel.

>>> Please read the full article here

Evil weed in Baltic Sea puts marine life at risk

By Tony Paterson in Berlin from the Independent

Record summer temperatures, farm fertilisers and a lack of wind have created a gigantic carpet of evil-smelling weed covering large areas of the Baltic and threatening both marine life and seaside tourism, scientists warn.

The 377,000 sq km of blue-green algae, covering an area the size of Germany, has been identified by satellite cameras. It extends from Finland along the south coast of Sweden and surrounds the Danish island of Bornholm.

Scientists from the German section of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Hamburg have warned of the damaging effects of the weed. “These huge algae carpets hit the marine environment most,” said Jochen Lamp, a WWF project spokesman. “They kill plants and encourage the spread of dead zones on the sea bed which have no oxygen left in them.”

Picture EPA

November 09 – Top 10 Eco News Stories

The MoreEco team has put together its favourite to top 10 eco news posts from last month. Hopefully this will keep you up to date with what’s going on with green news currently!

Top 10 Eco Friendly Countries

Algae is a “realistic” car fuel

The Road to Copenhagen: Less than 40 days to go

Play the Oxfam Climate Challenge with Heather Graham and Mackenzie Crook

National Tree Week 2009

Recycling is UK’s favourite activity!

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

Go Ahead Try Cutting 10% of Your Emissions in 2010

Cynicism over Copenhagen Treaty

We still have a chance to save polar bears

Algae is a “realistic” car fuel

Researchers in America are claiming to have found a “realistic” fuel alternative in pond algae. An increasing number of scientists are involved in the development of algae as a commercial fuel alterative and according to a team at Florida International University, algae-derived biofuel will be available sooner than expected.

“I think it’s very realistic. I don’t think it’s going to take 20 years. It’s going to take a few years,” said chemical engineer George Philippidis, director of applied research at Florida International University.

He added: “We could hook up to the exhaust of polluting industries. We could capture it and feed it to algae and prevent that CO2 from contributing to further climate change.”

How long before cars are powered by algae biofuel?

Fuels derived from algae have the potential to provide a plentiful and entirely sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. The question looming over algae-derived biofuel is whether its production can be scaled up to be both environmentally benign and commercially viable.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “Algaculture can rely on sea water and waste water and produces a final product that is biodegradable but as with all fuels, it is vital that the true environmental impact is calculated with great care.”

“With regards to a fuel of this kind competing with petrol and diesel, if we tax the producers of carbon dioxide and other climate change gases, changes will incredibly quickly. Biofuel from algae could be a false dawn but in the meantime if we tax what we know to be bad, then good will flow from the results.”

>>>Source ETA

Algae Coated Buildings Boost = Biofuel Production

One of the benefits to harnessing aglaculture for biofuels is that it can use waste-water and ocean water, and it is relatively harmless to the local environment should it spill or leak. Algae also has a much higher production rate per acre (or vertical foot in this case) than soy or corn. Additionally, some studies have shown that up to 99% of the CO2 introduced to the solution can be converted or sequestered.

Currently photobioreactors are much more expensive to use than conventional open-pond systems, but this is why the The Institute of Mechanical Engineers wants more research funding to be pushed toward PBRs. Whereas open pond-style algaculture covers large areas of habitat, PBRs could be incorporated into our existing city infrastructure and provide the filtering and fuel production where we need it most. Although biofuels would help shift us away from oil, they do nothing to address the underlying issues that are such tight siblings with car culture like global warming and social justice. While we try to figure out the future of the planet, maybe flying and driving on algae will buy us a little time.

The report also pointed to several other green building solutions including constructing forests of carbon storing synthetic trees, and using solar reflectors and green roofs as a way of preventing excessive solar heat gain. Hot roofs and asphalt can significantly alter an area’s local climate as well as drive up the need for air conditioning (and the peaker plants that A/C requires).

So the engineers have stepped their game up and joined the fray, what do you think of their options?

+ The Institute of Mechanical Engineers

algaebuildingsed01

One of the benefits to harnessing aglaculture for biofuels is that it can use waste-water and ocean water, and it is relatively harmless to the local environment should it spill or leak.

Algae also has a much higher production rate per acre (or vertical foot in this case) than soy or corn. Additionally, some studies have shown that up to 99% of the CO2 introduced to the solution can be converted or sequestered.

Although biofuels would help shift us away from oil, they do nothing to address the underlying issues that are such tight siblings with car culture like global warming and social justice. While we try to figure out the future of the planet, maybe flying and driving on algae will buy us a little time.

So the engineers have stepped their game up and joined the fray, what do you think of their options?

>>>>Visit The Institute of Mechanical Engineers

>>>>Article by Trey Farmer at Inhabitat