The Scum Also Rises, Algae New Star in Biofuel Galaxy

Buy an ad on DigitalJournal.com

This one could be two hits of good news in one gob of green goo. Just last month a report surfaced detailing the damaging to waterways and ecosystem being wreaked by the humble but relentless algae. In both salt and fresh waters, algae were becoming the dominant plant life in places where they had no place being.

The rest of the report was taken up with ways of combating the green gooey scourge. A Texas plant physiologist claims to have the solution to the problem.

Glen Kertz, a plant physiologist who heads up green energy company Valcent Products believes algae can be farmed as a source for bio-fuels. Kerts told CNN algae is the ultimate in renewable energy, being fast-growing, cheap to keep and harvest and available everywhere.

Until recently, most energy research and development projects used ponds to grow their research "pond scum". Instead,Valcent uses a closed, vertical system, growing the algae in long rows of moving plastic bags. Recycled plastic, we hope.

Kertz says going vertical maximises the available area for solar absorption, making it possible to produce about 100,000 gallons of algae oil a year per acre, compared to about 30 gallons per acre from corn; 50 gallons from soybeans.

There's a Canadian connection too, the patented system called Vertigro being a joint venture with Canadian alternative energy company Global Green Solutions. The companies have invested about $5 million in the Texas facility.

Using algae as an alternative fuel is an old idea whose time may have come again.. The U.S. Department of Energy studied it for about 18 years, from 1978 to 1996. But according in 1996 the feds decided that algae oil could never compete economically with fossil fuels.

Then, oil was $20 a barrel and now it's in three digits, so from the Pentagon to New Zealand, both governments and private companies are exploring the use of algae to produce fuel.

All kinds of fuel, it turns out. A big part of the research at the west Texas facility involves determining what type of algae produces what type of fuel. One species may be best suited for jet fuel, while the oil content of another may be more efficient for truck diesel.

Locating algae processing plants intelligently will add to their efficiency. Putting them next to carbon producing power plants, or manufacturing plants, for instance, The plants could hang onto the C02 they create and use those emissions to help grow the algae, which need the C02 for photosynthesis.

Ditto for locating them at locations with an ongoing algae problem, a best case scenario where a problem is literally turned into a solution.

So eleven years after it shut up shop, the U.S. government is back in the algae game. The 2007 Energy Security and Independence Act includes provisions for promoting the use of algae for biofuels. A rare governmental acknowledgement that the scum also rises..