Although PetroSun have picked the worst possible day for beginning production, their algae to biofuel processor plant is ready to begin working tomorrow, April 1st. 1080 acres of the site in Rio Hondo Texas will be devoted the process, with an additional 20 acres making experimental jet fuel . I’d question their choice of launching on April Fool’s Day but if this is a real development it’s potentially very exciting.
“Our business model has been focused on proving the commercial feasibility of the firms’ algae-to-biofuels technology during the past eighteen months.” said PetroSun CEO Gordon LeBlanc, Jr “Whether we have arrived at this point in time by a superior technological approach, sheer luck or a redneck can-do attitude, the fact remains that microalgae can outperform the current feedstocks utilized for conversion to biodiesel and ethanol, yet do not impact the consumable food markets or fresh water resources.”
Algae conversion to biofuel is much more efficient than other techniques. It provides as much as 30 times more energy per acre than corn or soy . In addition, it doesn’t impact on the growing of human fuel – food stocks in grains are low and shortages threatening because of farmland switching from food to biofuel production. Algae promises a good compromise to stop a Downward Spiral.
I have been casually following this project for a while now, it shows a lot of promise, should it work as planned. Thank you for updating us on it- I think I actually first heard about it through an earlier post you did.
So, now it August 2008…how much algae-desiel is being produced
by PetroSun per acre, at what cost?
From what I can tell Darrell PetroSun are fairly early on in their testing so I wouldn’t expect that kind of information for a couple of years – companies with these new techniques tend to be very protective of their IP. There’s another algae-fuel producer called Sapphire recently making the news too. Like any technology algae-fuel will take time to research, expand and commercialise – I wouldn’t expect any in your gas tank until 2012-15. Solar and Wind is more near-term tech, though.