Commercial Fuel From Algae Still Years Away 134
chrnb sends along this quote from a report at Reuters:
"Filling your vehicle's tank with fuel made from algae is still as much as a decade away, as the emerging industry faces a series of hurdles to find an economical way to make the biofuel commercially. Estimates on a timeline for a commercial product, and profits, vary from two to 10 years or more. Executives and industry players who gathered at the Algae Biomass Summit this week in San Diego said they need to push for breakthroughs along the entire chain — from identifying the best organisms to developing efficient harvesting methods. ... So far on the list: finding the right strain of algae among thousands of species that will produce high yields; designing systems where the desired algae can multiply and other species don't invade and disrupt the process; and extracting its oils without degrading other parts of the algae that can be made into side products and sold as well."
Nobel Winner! (Score:5, Funny)
Give them a Nobel prize, it will encourage them.
so this is like fusion but only 10 years away inst (Score:5, Funny)
so this is like fusion but only 10 years away instead of 20 !
My trifecta (Score:5, Funny)
I'm working on getting fusion power working by slamming algae together using power from cheap solar cells.
I'm still in the planning stages, so I estimate it will be another ten years before commercial applications, such as flying cars, are ready
Re:so this is like fusion but only 10 years away i (Score:4, Funny)
The real question is for how many decades is it going to be ten years away?
Re:Need it be commercialized? (Score:2, Funny)
True. I got in a bit of trouble in my 3rd year when my little bioreactor full of methanogenetic bacteria got a blocked valve and blew up, spewing stinky sulphurous muck all over the lab ceiling. Just imagine someone letting me loose on a full-grown industrial project.
Exprosions. Very nice. >:-D