Algae Fuel

Algae are tiny biological factories that use photosynthesis to transform carbon dioxide and sunlight into energy so efficiently that they can double their weight several times a day. Algae oil is an interesting sustainable feedstock for biodiesel manufacturing. It is an alternative to popular feedstocks, like soybean, canola and palm. In comparison to traditional oil-seed crops, algae yields much more oil per acre. While soybean typically produces less than 50 gallon of oil per acre and rapeseed generates less than 130 gallon per acre, algae can yield up to 10,000 gallons per acre. In particular diatoms and green algae are good sources for the production of biodiesel.

History as Fuel

The idea of using algae as a source of food, feed and energy goes back more than half a century. Production of methane gas from algae was proposed in the early 1950s, and received a big impetus during the energy crisis of the 1970s, when projects were initiated to produce gaseous fuels (hydrogen and methane). From 1980 to 1996 the US Department of Energy supported the Aquatic Species Program (ASP), a relatively small effort (about $25 million over almost 20 years) with the specific goal of producing oil from microalgae.

So exactly how can we get oil from algae?

 Algae are grown in either open-pond or closed-pond systems. Once the algae are harvested, the lipids, or oils, are extracted from the walls of the algae cells.There are a few different ways to extract the oil from algae. The oil press is the simplest and most popular method. It's similar to the concept of the olive press. It can extract up to 75 percent of the oil from the algae being pressed.

Basically a two-part process, the hexane solvent method (combined with pressing the algae) extracts up to 95 percent of oil from algae. First, the press squeezes out the oil. Then, leftover algae is mixed with hexane, filtered and cleaned so there's no chemical left in the oil.

The supercritical fluids method extracts up to 100 percent of the oil from algae. Carbon dioxide acts as the supercritical fluid . when a substance is pressurized and heated to change its composition into a liquid as well as a gas. At this point, carbon dioxide is mixed with the algae. When they're combined, the carbon dioxide turns the algae completely into oil. The additional equipment and work make this method a less popular option.

Once the oil's extracted, it's refined using fatty acid chains in a process called transesterification. Here, a catalyst such as sodium hydroxide is mixed in with an alcohol such as methanol. This creates a biodiesel fuel combined with a glycerol. The mixture is refined to remove the glycerol. The final product is algae biodiesel fuel.The process of extracting oil from the algae is universal, but companies producing algae biodiesel are using diverse methods to grow enough algae to produce large amounts of oil.

Different Bio fuels made with algae

Biodiesel - Microalgae are involved in the production of biodiesel. Microalgae are chosen for the production of biofuel based on their oil content. The oil inside the microalgae is removed from algae by chemical means or either squeezed out. The oil is collected and changed chemically and is then used as an ingredient in biodiesel.

Bioethanol – Bioethanol is an ingredient used in the production of petrol. Macroalgae that contain a lot of sugar are chosen. Macroalgae are cut, mashed and treated.The macroalgae now appear as sludge and is called feedstock. Other micro-organisms called Yeast are added at this stage. Yeast uses the feedstock

as food and breaks down the feedstock into ethanol and other components. This process is called fermentation. Ethanol is separated from the other components and then the ethanol is used in petrol.

Biogas – Methane is the main ingredient in the production of biogas. Methane gas can be produced by using macroalgae. The macroalgae must have a high sugar content. Macroalgae are cut and mashed. Micro-organisms convert the natural sugars in macroalgae into glucose. The macroalgae now appear as sludge and is called feedstock. The feedstock will go into a big tank and special micro-organisms called anaerobes are

added. These micro-organisms are special because they don’t need oxygen to survive.They work without oxygen(air). They also need an environment that has the correct temperature and acidity. When conditions are correct the special micro-organisms perform a series of reactions called anaerobic digestion.Within this environment methane and other gases are produced. The methane gas is separated and used as biogas.

Hartman, Eviana (6 January 2008). "A Promising Oil Alternative: Algae Energy". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 May 2014.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel

Artificial Photosynthesis

What is Artificial Photosynthesis?

Artificial photosynthesis, the technology of converting sunlight into liquid fuels, would be the greenest of green technology if it can be done economically and on a large scale.Engineers and scientists are trying to develop a technology that will use sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce energy. This technology will have the dual benefit of reducing carbon dioxide levels while also producing renewable fuel. Scientists have proven that the technology is feasible, but problems still lie in scaling up. Captured carbon storage and efficient conversion of solar energy into electricity are challenges that, if overcome, will definitely pave the way of success for this technology.

 

Is This a good alternative to other technologies?

Yes.Photovoltaic cell technology is used in the production of solar panels, an expensive semiconductor based system that doesn't store energy. Instead, it converts sunlight for immediate use. Solar panels depend on sunlight, so bad weather hinders their ability to create energy. Artificial photosynthesis, a chemical based process, could provide an almost endless supply of much less expensive and storable energy. Fossil fuel systems require mining and refining, depleting natural resources, and adding pollutants to the air. Wind turbines and corn products take up a lot of land. Artificial photosynthesis doesn't require mining or land. It uses water and carbon dioxide, readily available resources, in a process that removes pollutants from the air without harming the environment.

Applications of Artificial Photosynthesis

Fossil fuels are in short supply, and they're contributing to pollution and global warming. Coal, while abundant, is highly polluting both to human bodies and the environment. Wind turbines are hurting picturesque landscapes, corn requires huge tracts of farmland and current solar-cell technology is expensive and inefficient. Artificial photosynthesis could offer a new, possibly ideal way out of our energy predicament.

For one thing, it has benefits over photovoltaic cells, found in today's solar panels. The direct conversion of sunlight to electricity in photovoltaic cells makes solar power a weather- and time-dependent energy, which decreases its utility and increases its price. Artificial photosynthesis, on the other hand, could produce a storable fuel.

And unlike most methods of generating alternative energy, artificial photosynthesis has the potential to produce more than one type of fuel. The photosynthetic process could be tweaked so the reactions between light, CO2 and H2O ultimately produce liquid hydrogen. Liquid hydrogen can be used like gasoline in hydrogen-powered engines. It could also be funneled into a fuel-cell setup, which would effectively reverse the photosynthesis process, creating electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen into water.

The ability to produce a clean fuel without generating any harmful by-products, like greenhouse gasses, makes artificial photosynthesis an ideal energy source for the environment. It wouldn't require mining, growing or drilling. And since neither water nor carbon dioxide is currently in short supply, it could also be a limitless source, potentially less expensive than other energy forms in the long run. In fact, this type of photoelectrochemical reaction could even remove large amounts of harmful CO2 from the air in the process of producing fuel. It's a win-win situation.

 Challenges Faced

Artificial photosynthesis is experimental and will most likely remain so for 10 or more years . What plants do naturally is not easy to reproduce, even though the process is fairly well-understood. Finding a reliable catalyst to initiate the process has been a challenge. Manganese has proven to be unstable, inefficient and impractical in lab setups. Stability is an issue with other catalysts, both organic and inorganic. Organic catalysts can degrade and cause reactions that damage fuel cells. Inorganic metal-oxide catalysts are often not an abundant resource.Recent developments include a noncorrosive solution for dye-sensitized cells that previously could corrode fuel cell systems and the use of cobalt oxide as a fast, stable and abundant metal oxide.The simple reality is that little real progress has been made in artificial photosynthesis over the past 20 years – a fact dictated by the affordable price of oil. Doubts are being raised as to whether researchers have a further 20 years to waste.

Artificial Photosynthesis Made Practical | MIT Technology Review. (n.d.). MIT Technology Review. Retrieved May 15, 2014, from http://www.technologyreview.com/news/521671/cheap-hydrogen-from-sunlight-and-water/

A vehicle running on Hydrogen

The car of the future is here today. Of course, you can't buy one yet; but if you live in California you can lease one. It doesn't use gasoline and it doesn't pollute the air. In fact, it produces steam instead of exhaust. So what's the mystery fuel? Hydrogen -- the simplest and most abundant element in the universe. And some people think that in 20 to 30 years, we'll all be driving these hydrogen-powered, fuel-efficient vehicles.

What is a fuel cell electric vehicle?

Fuel cell electric vehicles use a completely different propulsion system than conventional vehicles, which can be two to three times more efficient. Unlike conventional vehicles, they produce no harmful exhaust emissions. Other benefits include increasing U.S. energy security and strengthening the economy.

Fuel cell electric vehicles are fueled with pure hydrogen gas stored directly on the vehicle. Fuel cell electric vehicles fueled with pure hydrogen emit no pollutants, only water and heat. These vehicles have the capability to refuel in as little as three minutes and can achieve a range of more than 300 miles on a single tank.

Fuel cell vehicles can be equipped with other advanced technologies to increase efficiency, such as regenerative braking systems, which capture the energy lost during braking and store it in a battery. These vehicles are nearing commercial readiness and many major auto original equipment manufacturers have announced plans to begin selling and leasing vehicles to the public starting in 2014.

Fuel cell vehicles look like conventional vehicles from the outside,but inside they contain technologically advanced components not found on today;s vehicles.The most obvious difference is the fuel stack that converts hydrogen gas stored on board with oxygen from the air into electricity to drive the electric motor that propels the vehicle. The major components of a typical Fuel Cell Vehicle are illustrated below:

How Fuel Cell Vehicles Work?

Like battery electric vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles use electricity to power a motor located near the vehicle's wheels. In contrast to other electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles produce their primary electricity using a fuel cell powered by hydrogen, rather than a battery. During the vehicle design process, the vehicle manufacturer controls the power of the vehicle by changing the fuel cell size and controls the amount of energy stored on board by changing the fuel tank size. This is different than a battery electric vehicle where the amount of power and energy available are both closely tied to the battery size.

The most common type of fuel cell for vehicle applications is the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. In a PEM fuel cell, an electrolyte membrane is sandwiched between a positive electrode (cathode) and a negative electrode (anode). Hydrogen is introduced to the anode and oxygen (usually from air) to the cathode. The hydrogen molecules break apart into protons and electrons because of an electrochemical reaction in the fuel cell catalyst. Protons, travel through the membrane to the cathode.The electrons are forced to travel through an external circuit to perform work (providing power to the car) then recombine with the protons on the cathode side, where the protons, electrons, and oxygen molecules combine to form water.

Although hydrogen-powered cars have a science fiction quality to them, the idea isn't really new. Actually, the technology for using hydrogen to generate power has been around since the first part of the 19th century -- that's longer than cars have been around. What's new is that you might actually see a hydrogen-powered car on the road, with steam coming out of its exhaust pipe instead of foul-smelling gases. Several hydrogen cars are now in existence, but most of them are concept cars. These Eco-friendly driving machines include the Chevrolet Equinox, the BMW 745h and the one that's currently available for lease in California, the Honda FCX.


Hydrogen Fuel. (n.d.). Hydrogen Fuel. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hydrogen.shtml

Self- repairing Concrete

Self-healing and self-repair is a common theme in biological systems from trees to human skin. The less severe the damage is to an organism, the easier it is for the organism to repair itself and for the repair to be strong and long-lasting.

Concrete cracks for many reasons: just for starters, the heating and cooling of changing seasons make it expand and contract, and the stress produced as the freshly poured goo dries and shrinks in volume, pulling against its underlying metal supports, can also cause cracks.Several researchers suggests this new form of concrete which uses microfibers in the place of coarser bits of sand and gravel that traditional cement mix uses. The fibers allow the final composite to bend with minimal fracturing and if fracturing does occur, the cracks tend to be less than 50 microns wide. When these tiny cracks form, the dried concrete absorbs moisture from the air. When it does this, the concrete in the crack becomes softer and eventually "grows" until the crack is filled in. At the same time, calcium ions within the crack absorb the moisture along with carbon dioxide from the air. This reaction forms a calcium carbonate material that is similar to the material found in seashells. This regrowth and solidifying of calcium carbonate renews the strength of the cracked concrete.

Apparently, Dutch researchers are also testing a new way to deal with the problem of cracking concrete: bacteria that, when exposed to water, form limestone.The concrete mix they've developed contains small ceramic pods filled with dormant spores of the bacteria and nutrients (calcium lactate) to feed them. In solid concrete slabs, these spores remain dormant, but when the concrete cracks and water seeps into the ceramic pods, the bacteria spring into action, using the calcium lactate to form calcite, one of the two primary components of limestone, which fills the crack. In the lab, the bacteria can fill cracks up to 0.5 millimeters wide.Not only do the bacteria work to plug cracks in the concrete, the process of doing so uses oxygen present which would otherwise be involved in the corrosion process of the steel bars.

The rigidity of traditional concrete leads to the formation of large cracks that can seriously degrade the integrity of important structures. Furthermore, when damage does occur to concrete, expensive and resource-consuming measures must be taken to repair the concrete, usually from the outside. Or, if repair measures are insufficient, the structure must be demolished and rebuilt which further expands the need for resources. Self-healing concrete could vastly increase the life of concrete structures, and would remove the need for repairs, reducing the lifetime cost of a structure by up to 50 per cent.Over seven per cent of the world's CO2 emissions are caused by cement production, so reducing the amount required by extending the lifetime of structures and removing the need for repairs will have a significant  environmental impact.

This Self-healing Concrete Repairs Itself with Bacteria - 80beats | DiscoverMagazine.com. (n.d.). 80beats. Retrieved May 15, 2014, from http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2012/11/02/this-self-healing-concrete-repairs-itself-with-bacteria/#.U3QbpfldVqw

Ecolution

As the world increasingly focuses on sustainable initiatives, green architecture is a booming industry. Everything from single-family residences to giant 1.2-million-square-foot complexes complete with giant skyscrapers is getting the green treatment, and the innovation that is going into these plans is more complex than ever. 

Architect David Fisher has proposed a plan for rotating towers that produce all of their own energy through wind power. The Rotating Tower would be built by stacking platters on a central concrete core with wind turbines located between each of them. Each floor will rotate 360 degrees about once every 90 minutes; as the floors will rotate independently, they will create a constantly changing silhouette in the sky. Inside the concrete core will be elevators, emergency stairs and lobbies. The Rotating Tower will be built in Dubai in the next six months.

The world’s first Passive House Museum is set to be built in Ulricehamn, Sweden, functioning as a visitor’s center. The building’s heat will be supplied entirely by the body heat of visitors and the equipment located inside. Solar cells on the roof will provide part of the energy used to run electrical equipment and heat water. The circular design of the structure will allow efficient circulation of air to enhance the passive heating and cooling of the building.

China’s population is exploding while its industrial ventures are producing more pollution than ever – a combination that makes it difficult to be Eco-friendly. A new sustainable housing project called Habitat 2020 aims to be one of the leaders in bringing environmental initiatives to this growing country. The Habitat 2020 building will feature an active skin: a membrane between the exterior and interior walls that will absorb air, water and light from outside and dispatch it inside as clean filtered water, natural air conditioning and electricity. The same funnels on the membrane that pull these resources in will also emit clean, CO2-free air from inside the building. This urban megalopolis is set to be complete in 2020.

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Felor Algo, a firm based just outsides of Rennes in France, produces paints that derive from natural algae rather than traditional petroleum products. The main advantages of the new product include its:long lasting nature; ability to “breathe”, resulting in air in the vicinity being of better quality than with traditional paints; and use of ingredients that are electrostatic-free. 

Livescience. Retrieved June 27, 2009.10 top emerging environmental technologies.

http://www.reference.md/files/D052/mD052918.html

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