New Facility Uses Algae to Turn Coal Pollution Into Fuel
A coal fired power-plant in Oregon has started a pilot project to curb pollution by using algae to harvest greenhouse gases and make fuel and other useful products.
The power plant in Boardman, Oregon, is the state’s only coal-fired facility — and also the the state’s largest single emitter of carbon dioxide. To deal with this problem, Portland General Electric and Columbia Energy Partners have started a pilot project to turn the otherwise nasty emissions into biodiesel, ethanol, and even livestock feed.
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How does it work? Just like you and I breathe in oxygen to make energy, algae breathe in carbon dioxide to make energy. So, if you capture all that carbon dioxide and feed it to the algae, they grow. Algae are particularly oily little buggers so after they’ve matured they can be squeezed to make oil. The leftover algae carcasses can then be converted to ethanol and used as feed for livestock.
Right now, the project’s scale is so tiny that it’ll hardly scratch the surface of the 600-megawatt facility’s 5 million tons of annual carbon dioxide emissions. But project proponents are quick to point out that when the project goes full scale in 2½ years, it should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 60% during daylight hours and produce 20 million gallons of biodiesel per year.
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Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Source: The Oregonian
But the question is, will it help me at the stupid pump everytime I have to fill up my stupid tank? thats all that matters.
Jiff
http://www.privacy-center.ru.tc
Two obvious points to Jeff:
How about the environment? That is not important? You obviously have no kids, no nephews/nieces and no family.
Secondly, do you own a bio-diesel car? If you do then yes. If not, you shouldn’t even be asking that question.
Two obvious points to Jeff.
The environment will be fine. Only a idiot would assume that having kids/ family is somehow related to your feelings about the environment. Anyone who assumes such should probably explain how they plan on quilting China, India, any other emerging nation how they plan on reducing emissions as they grow to the point that they produce far more CO than we do.
Secondly, another name for a bio-diesel car is a diesel car. And if this scales up to provide a significant amount of diesel, then I expect a lot of people will have them. If you don’t understand this, you probably shouldn’t be commenting.
If this works, it should go down under the column of things we should be doing anyway, whether you believe in AGW or not. I personally think that AGW is overblown in the press, but don’t like sending money to terrorist or wannabe terrorist states with every tankful.
this brand new co2 will continue to pile up in the air aftr passing thru algae ,cows, farms…etc..
There’s more than CO2 in emissions, isn’t there? Trace metals and other contaminants perhaps? Is that going to cause problems down the line using the algae or ethanol?
No, No. Algae do NOT breath in carbon dioxide to make energy. Carbon dioxide is in a low energy state.
Algae use light energy captured through photosynthesis to turn carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and other compounds, which can then be used as an energy source and the raw materials for growth.
wgc,
I know I skipped a bunch of steps there, but basically CO2 (and water) is used in photosynthesis (using the energy of the sun) to make things that can then be used as energy for the plant. So, if you take out the middle steps, CO2 is “breathed” in to make energy.
So I’m a lumper, shoot me.
“But the question is, will it help me at the stupid pump everytime I have to fill up my stupid tank? thats all that matters.”
It is exactly this kind of stupid self-centred and irresponsible attitude that is perpetuating the development of ongoing environmental degradation, producing global warming, and in the end raising your stupid gas prices from a free-market economy based on limitless growth and greed.
Besides being a requirement for life, carbon dioxide is fungible. We can set up algae generators in a sunnier clime and the little buggers will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere without regards to country of national origin. Of course, when we burn the bio-diesel, perhaps in some Warm-mongerer’s private jet if not our cars, we will re-release the carbon dioxide. Our real saving will be in not shipping our children’s wealth overseas.