Algae Fueled Power Station
Algae could be used to produce Elecric Power directly
There
has been considerable interest in the production of many things
from
algae. The things that can be produced by the right sorts of algae
under the correct conditions include oil and
Hydrogen.
In
my opinion, the production of oil from Algae shows great promise in
the
medium term. Potentially,
the United States, or Australia, or
the Middle East could produce enough oil
for the whole world. There
is still a lot of research needing to be
done on this subject, but oil production from algae shows promise
of
becoming commercial much faster than new nuclear power stations can
come on line in countries like Australia which do not yet have a nuclear power
industry.
I
hope the new United States president includes incentives for this type
of
research in
the 150 Billion he has promised for renewable energy. It would look
good in the history books if in eight years (If he is re-elected in
2012) the United States changed from the biggest importer of oil to
an
exporter, both of oil and of the technology to make it.
As an
Australian, I can see the enormous potential
for the production of oil from algae in the Australian Deserts. South
Australia alone could supply all the world's oil needs, using land
of
currently low value, water too salty to drink, and the waste water from our cities.
Another Use for Algae
However,
one of the problems that needs to be overcome is the economic
extraction of oil from algae.
What I am suggesting here is something
slightly different.
Feeding the exhaust gases from power stations
through ponds containing algae has been done.
Much of the Carbon dioxide of the gases is extracted from the waste gases and used by
the
algae to grow. Other
pollutants would also be reduced, including
nutrients the algae uses.
I am proposing taking it
to the next
stage and not using fossil fuels at all.
The algae grown in the ponds
outside can be harvested, and used as the fuel for the power
station.
Consider
this system. It would only
be practical in certain places.
You would
want somewhere with a low rainfall and a lot of sun. It would also need
to be close enough to a city or other large power user so you can
sell
the electricity you produce.
This does not have to be very close and
there are many places in the world that would fit; including parts
of
Texas, Arizona and parts of Australia.
These places have hot
desert type conditions fairly close to a major city.
Not Perpetual Motion
This is not
perpetual motion, even if it sounds a bit like it. The energy input for
the system is the sunlight which the algae use.
Most of the mineral
nutrients needed by the algae would be recycled and contained in
either
the ash or the gases; both waste products of the power station. One
nutrient that would be partly lost in the process is the nitrogen
very
necessary for algae growth.
The lost Nitrogen can be replenished by
using nitrogen fixing algae.
Note that the algae cultures grown do not
have to be pure strains.
Although a high oil alga would be an
advantage, it is not essential.
Dried algae low in oil will still burn,
producing a lot of heat.
Water and Nutrients
An obvious
source of nutrients and water is the waste water from cities. In South Australia, these could be
sent by pipeline to the area with the power station providing
most of
the nutrients, as well as some of the water the algae need.
One of the requirements is plenty of
space. The ponds for
growing algae would need to be big and large areas
would also be needed for sun drying the algae after harvesting. This is
one of the reasons you want a low rainfall area.
Now, it could
be objected that you can produce electricity more simply using solar
voltaic cells. I consider
this to be a legitimate objection.
What I am
suggesting is an alternative way of turning sunlight into
electricity.
I suspect that very large algae ponds would be a cheaper way of
capturing the Sun's energy than the same area of solar cells. In the
end it would come down to economics.
Remember as well that the dried
algae can be burned even at night while some form of energy storage
may
be necessary with solar cells.
There are many possible
variations of this idea.
One is to not dry the algae, but to ferment
it, collecting the Methane produced, and use that for fueling the
power station. The residue of
the fermentation could be used as a soil
improver. With this variation, a low rainfall area would not be
necessary.
Another
variation would be to try the little fern, Azolla instead
of the
algae. For more
information
about this little
plant, see the Azolla
Fact Sheet.
For how this little plant changed the history of the World, see The
Azolla Event.
A similar
variation would be to use Duckweed.
This plant also grows at an incredible rate.
For more Details, see the Duckweed
Fact Sheet.
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For an Algae fuelled power station to be economical, you need cheap land with a lot of sunlight. Desert or semi desert is the most obvious land that fits the requirements. It should also be reasonably close to a major city. As can be seen from the map below, both Adelaide and Perth have large desert areas close to them.There are also many smaller cities and good sized towns in or near desert regions.
The United States has less deserts, but more large cities and towns. Some of these places are close to deserts.
For a power station, fueled by Azolla and Duckweed which are fermented after being grown on the waste water from a nearby city to produce Methane and soil improver, low rainfall is not necessary.
Methane is an excellent fuel for electricity production. This system would greatly reduce the nutrients in the waste water and could be a major part of its purification to allow eventual disposal of the waste water with less environmental problems.
This variation on the system would result in the net removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere because the residue of the plants after fermentation would be added to soils to increase their organic matter content. Azolla fixes atmospheric nitrogen while removing phosphorous and other nutrients from the water. Duckweed removes nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients from the water. Azolla residues have had a long history of being used to fertilize Rice in Asia.
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