Lots Of Algal Fuel On The Way
When biofuels are mentioned in conversation, most people are referencing ethanol. Ethanol has already pervaded the existing gasoline infrastructure, with most gas sold containing 10% ethanol. Also, there has recently been a proposal to increase that to 15%. One biofuel that doesn’t get a lot of press is algal fuel, which is made from algae, but a new start-up company wants to change that by delivering 1 billion barrels of algal fuel per year by 2025.
Sapphire Energy, whose main produciton facilities are in New Mexico, is working very hard to get the word out about algal fuel. They’ve already succeeded in having two major airlines run test flights with their biofuel in the engines, and both flights went perfectly. So it can work in jet engines, but can it dethrone ethanol? It should for two main reasons: one, ethanol is derived from corn, meaning that as world population expands, the production of ethanol would come at the expense of depriving some people of food; and two, algal fuel is completely carbon neutral. While the production of ethanol requires a lot of energy to harvest the corn, refine it, ship it, etc., algae absorbs so much carbon dioxide while it is growing that it effectively counteracts all carbon emissions used in refining it. Also, while ethanol is a corrosive fuel that requires special shipping requirements, algal fuel is much safer, and can easily be mixed with gasoline at a refinery, cutting out all need of special transportation.
So, with all that promise, why isn’t algal fuel in your gas tank right now? Money and politics. The US Renewable Fuels Program, which regulates the biofuels industry and makes rules regarding the addition of biofuels to gasoline, doesn’t currently recognize algal fuel as a reliable biofuel. And changing that legislation would require a lot of political clout to get around the lobbying arm of the ethanol industry.
