You may be wondering exactly how this slimy green stuff can be turned into a fuel for cars and airplanes, and even for the heaters that warm our homes and schools. Let’s find out more about what makes biodiesel from algae so exciting.
Algae have been traditionally regarded as simple plants, and some are closely related to the higher plants.
Where do algae grow?
Algae are some of the most robust organisms on earth, able to grow in a wide range of conditions.
Artificial substrates: Wooden posts and fences, cans and bottles etc. all provide algal habitats.
Billabongs & lagoons: Rich microalgal habitats, particularly for desmids.
Bogs, marshes & swamps. Farm Dams, Hot springs, lake, Ponds (ephemeral), puddles, roadside ditches and rock pools, Rivers, Reservoirs, Saline Lakes & Marshes.
How are algae cultivated for biodiesel?
Like plants, algae require primarily two components to grow: sunlight and carbon-di-oxide. Like plants again, they use the sunlight for the process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is an important biochemical process in which plants, algae, and some bacteria convert the energy of sunlight to chemical energy. This chemical energy is used to drive chemical reactions such as the formation of sugars or the fixation of nitrogen into amino acids, the building blocks for protein synthesis. (see Photosynthesis – from Wikipedia)
Since algae need for their growth sunlight, carbon-di-oxide and water, they can cultivated in open ponds. However, the unassisted growth in open ponds is slow, owing to the lower concentration of carbon-di-oxide; where carbon-di-oxide concentrations are increased artificially, higher growth rates can be achieved in open ponds as well. Alternatively, algae could be grown in closed structures called photobioreactors, where the environment is better controlled than in open ponds. While the costs of setting up and operating a photobioreactor would be higher than for those for open ponds, the efficiency and higher oil yields from these photobioreactors could be significantly higher as well, thus offsetting the initial cost disadvantage in the medium and long run.
Finding algae strains to grow isn’t too difficult. Cultivating specific strains of algae for biodiesel could be however a bit more difficult, as they can require high maintenance and could get easily contaminated by undesirable species.
