Could We Grow 100,000 Gallons of Oil per Acre? Yes, Says Vertigro Algae Biofuel [Video]
I happened across this video on algae biofuel today: a company I’ve never heard of, Valcent Products, claims they can grow algae to produce oil yields of 100,000 gallons per acre. That’s the upper range of estimates I’ve seen for algae production—an absolutely phenomenal amount of oil—which Valcent attributes to their ‘high density vertical bioreactor’ system. Check it out (more video after the jump):
If you want to hear more from Glen Kertz, CEO of Valcent Products, see him discuss the details of the Vertigro system:
This is the GREATEST news i’ve heard on bio-energy ever!
EVER! awesome stuff! I’ve never even thought outside the box with algae like this. just wow
For turbo diesel/biodiesel vehicles to rapidly penetrate the US market in the next 2 to 10 years, the 30% higher MPG on diesel/biodiesel must not be offset by a 20% to 30% premium for biodiesel over gasoline. Question: What is the retail price per gallon now for algal biodiesel from Valcent? What does Valcent forecast it to be in 2 years? Can $3.00 per gallon retail for algal biodiesel be reached soon, if not today?
This is awesome. It’s by far the best news on gas 2.0 all year.
Sounds to good to be true.
How long will it take to produce that much oil on one acre? Show me!
What do we have to feed this algae?
@2 John Hickman: I haven’t seen any details from Valcent about the cost of their biodiesel, but the word on the street is that algae-based biodiesel is currently “prohibitively expensive.”
That being said, I don’t know how it couldn’t be cost-effective with those kinds of yields.
See also: http://gas2.org/2008/03/29/first-algae-biodiesel-plant-goes-online-april-1-2008/
Posts Related to Algae Biofuels:
First Heavy-Duty Diesel Powered By Algae Biodiesel, Solazyme’s “Soladiesel”
http://gas2.org/2008/04/17/first-heavy-duty-diesel-powered-by-algae-biodiesel-solazymes-soladiesel/
Algae Could Be Major Hydrogen Fuel Source
http://gas2.org/2008/04/01/algae-could-be-major-hydrogen-fuel-source/
First Algae Biodiesel Plant Goes Online: April 1, 2008
(Link Above)
[...] Could We Grow 100,000 Gallons of Oil per Acre? Yes, Says Vertigro Algae Biofuel [Video] [...]
1/10th the area of New Mexico to supply the entire US! Algae loves CO2 and sunlight!
Hi-
In 2005 Valcent was making skin care products. One of the links from their 2005 press release,
http://www.valcentproducts.com
looks like a porn site.
All of the coverage of Valcent has been through rose colored glasses. Someone needs to ask what the balance of energy input vs output is. Also when the Valcent website claims that they make fuel from ” only light, water and air”, someone needs to ask some serious questions.
While I would love it if these guys were legit, there are too many unasked questions and fast-and-loose “facts” for my taste.