Analysis - Algae may produce biofuels

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By LEAH KRAUSS
UPI Energy Correspondent

BINYAMINA, Israel, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- The newest source of biofuel, an oil
alternative, could be algae that feed off of polluting factory
emissions, researchers say.

"Looking for economical ways to produce biofuel is, shall I say, popular
these days," Amir Drory of Kibbutz Ketura, Israel-based Alga
Technologies told United Press International.

Companies try making the oil alternative from "agricultural products,
all kinds of creatures, or fermentation," Drory said.

AlgaTech, with Drory leading the project, and a partner, Cambridge,
Mass.-based GreenFuel Technologies Corp., are taking a more unusual
approach: algae.

The plant best known for creating a kind of green film on the surfaces
of ponds or neglected swimming pools can produce fuel and hydrocarbons.

There are a few ways to do this, Drory explained. Creating biodiesel
directly involves a simple process of photosynthesis, where the algae
use sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce sugars, fats and proteins.

"If you are able to use a specific form of microalgae, it will produce
components of biodiesel," Drory said.

In other words, don't stop cleaning your pool in hopes of becoming an
energy baron. AlgaTech and Green Fuel are spending three years on the
research project, which from AlgaTech's end mainly involves finding the
perfect type of microalgae for the job.

GreenFuel's plan is to get the carbon dioxide needed for the process by
setting up shop next to big CO2 producers like factories. This way,
instead of releasing the harmful greenhouse gas into the air, it feeds
the algae.

In the carbon dioxide's place, oxygen is released as a byproduct of the
photosynthesis.

Because the factories could be in different climates, the strain of
microalgae chosen, in addition to being cost-effective, must be able to
thrive in many different types of conditions, Drory said.

Biodiesel is the most likely form the algae-produced fuel will take, but
the process could also produce ethanol through a fermentation process,
Drory said.

He said that producing a fossil fuel with microalgae is also possible,
since plants are carbon-based, but that this is the "last priority" of
research.

But whatever form the new fuel takes, the end product is likely to be
"pretty much the same" as existing forms of biofuel, Drory said, noting
that compatibility would make the fuel more marketable.

In a special report in its May 2006 issue, the magazine Popular
Mechanics compared different types of alternative fuel against the
amount of gasoline it would take to drive a Honda Civic cross-country.
The report considered the raw materials involved, the total cost, and
the gas mileage, and tried to control for car size and weight as much as
possible.

The Civic running on gasoline used 90.9 gallons -- 4.5 barrels of crude
-- and got 33 miles to the gallon. At a cost of $2.34 per gallon, the
total fuel cost was $212.70.

The biodiesel cars, either a Volkswagen Golf or a New Beetle TDI, would
take 68.2 gallons of B100 fuel to get cross country, which is equivalent
to about 16, 5-gallon jugs of used vegetable oil. The magazine put the
per-gallon cost at $3.40, and with a high economy of 44 miles per
gallon, the trip's price tag was $231.

"B20 would lower the cost of the trip to less than $183," the report said.

Finally, the 2005 Taurus FFV was used to crunch E85 ethanol's numbers.
It cost a full two times more than the Civic, at $425 for the trip. The
difference came not from the price, which at $2.41 per gallon is not
much more than pure gasoline, but from the poor gas mileage -- only 17
miles to the gallon.

As a result, the car would require 176 gallons of E85 to make the New
York to California trip, or 53 bushels of corn and half a barrel of
crude oil, the magazine said.

"This (ethanol-gasoline) mix provides about 15 percent less mileage than
straight gasoline, but burns cleanly and reduces pollution," the report
said.

The United States has several tax incentives and credits for retailers
and blenders of biodiesel and ethanol.

Under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, ethanol blenders and
retailers are eligible for the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit. The
credit is 51 cents per pure gallon of ethanol blended, or half a cent
per percentage point of ethanol blended.

For instance, the E85 fuel, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent
gasoline, would be eligible for a 43 cent-per-gallon tax credit,
according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy division.

Meanwhile, section 1344 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended the
tax credit for biodiesel producers through 2008. The credits are $1 per
gallon of agri-biodiesel and 50 cents per gallon of waste-grease
biodiesel, the Department of Energy said.