Does anybody know about a bio-algae power plant in the midwest?
I read somewhere a while back about a pilot plant in the Midwest, that is able to produce biodiesel from algae or uses flue gas from the power plant to grow algae. I want to know if somebody knows anything about this.
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Filed under: Making Biodiesel
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The Rio Honda, Texas plant went online in 2008 though I do find the date of April 1 somewhat suspicious.
There’s no doubt that biodiesel from algae is a better solution than corn ethanol or even soybean biodiesel but it does amaze me how people continue to focus on biological methods. Photosynthesis is at best 6.6% efficient in converting light energy into chemical energy whereas the current record for photo-voltaic cells is 42.8% and quantum dot photo-voltaics promises at least 65% in the near future. That and Sandia Labs has proven that you can effectively synthesize fuels such as methane, methanol, gasoline, and diesel from CO2 and H2O if you have an energy source.
Biological methods may be less expensive capital wise but the theoretical limits means that they will never be able to supply our energy needs.
Of course, biomass solutions will definitely be part of the solution especially since biochar promises to sequester carbon and effectively remove carbon from the atmosphere. It’s just that biological methods do not deserve the praise heaped upon it by those who claim that nature has already produced the perfect solar panel.
i would be very surprised if it worked — at least and produced a significant amount of power.
what has to happen is that the algae only use part of the solar energy for growing, and when you burn it, you cannot get more energy out than they used while growing.
so, you cannot get more energy in a day than the plants used in a day to grow.
and that’s not very much.
i’m not saying that someone didn’t try it, but i seriously doubt that it was successful.
Its in Arizona…