ALGEA FUEL
-aquatic unicellular green algae
PROS
-It can also be grown on land otherwise unsuitable for agriculture.
The combustion of octane, a representative species, performs the chemical reaction: 2 C 8H 18 + 25
O 2 → 16 CO 2 + 18 H 2O.
CONS
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Need to be grown under controlled temperature conditions
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Requires considerable amount of land and water
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Cold flow issues with algal biofuel
Some researchers using genetic engineering to develop optimal algae strain
Requires phosphorus as a fertilizer which is becoming scarce
Fertilizer production is carbon dependent
Relatively high upfront capital costs
Not clear yet what the ultimate cost is
Large amounts of water are needed to grow algae in open ponds or closed bioreactors.
Maintaining a high enough temperature for efficient algae growth causes water to evaporate.
Algae biodiesel production uses more water than other biofuel sources. Water resources
needed for agriculture may have to be diverted. New studies address the use of waste water
and recycling of used algae water for a more efficient production of algae biodiesel.
FERTILIZER
Currently the demand for phosphorus when producing biofuel is too high i.e., it is used as a fertilizer and
algae needs a lot of nitrogen and phosphorus to survive.
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Possibly add gene to create phosphatases to potentially break down organic compounds to
get the phosphorus
3 sources of phosphorous