America has not seen such a wide reaching crisis involving petroleum based fuels as we are now experiencing; not only nation wide but global in its scope.

Political concerns, according to conventional wisdom, may indeed be the root cause of fuel prices soaring out of control, but they will not be addressed in this report.
Certain obvious facts supersede political hype and present an urgent need to focus on reality. Petroleum reserves are limited. Exploitation of those reserves is controlled by foreign governments over which we have no control. The pressing question is “How does the United States change the basic ground rules into our favor? What are our alternatives?”

What are the alternatives?

Current thinking has produced a number of viable sources for domestic energy, but feasibility studies on the majority of the proposals yields striking shortcomings. For an in depth review of some of the problems encountered, I highly recommend the University of New Hampshire bio diesel study. This study was a spin off from a Dept. of Energy funded research grant exploring the carbon dioxide sequestration potential of certain marine algae. I consider the study a must read for anyone seriously interested in alternative fuels in general and bio diesel in particular.

My personal focus here is the spin off of the marine algae study, namely; bio diesel for transportation needs. After all, it is the price of gasoline for our cars and trucks that is causing a national frustration and rage amongst consumers. It is gasoline at $4.00 per gallon that is causing a massive penetration of our national apathy and sense of entitlement. What does the pump price of gas have to do with bio diesel? I don’t drive a diesel vehicle. Maybe I should! Maybe we all should.

One of the first positive results of the DOE study was finding that marine algae do indeed sequester (bind up) greenhouse gasses…. Big time! Not only did they gobble up the CO2 but they used waste water (sewage) ingredients as nutrients to produce more algae, which went to work and produced …. Etc.

The moment of serendipity, the ‘AHA!’ event, came when they discovered just what that little green micro-plant was doing with the stuff it was consuming so well. The little buggers were converting the excess-over-reproduction into lipids (oils) which have high energy content.

Upon discovering the lipid conversion feature, DOE changed the focus towards examining the feasibility of using marine algae to produce engine friendly diesel; bio-diesel. Let me point out that singer Willie Nelson has two touring busses entirely powered by bio-diesel. Which one, I don’t know; just that they run very well, thank you.

 Obviously, there are several sources of vegetable oil that work fine as diesel fuel. The problem driving most research seems to be the individual plant source return on investment. ROI is the reality all marketers have to keep in mind. Consider the following parameters…

• Cost of energy to manufacture fertilizer.

• Cost of energy to truck fertilizer to field.

• Cost of energy to plant the corn/soybeans, etc.

• Cost of energy to harvest the crop.

• Cost of energy to truck the crop to the corn oil plant.

• In short, how many ergs of energy do you have to expend to get an excess of ergs in return?

Other considerations would include the climate mandated one crop per year and four to five months laying idle, waiting for spring; which would group together all grain sources as poor starters. Probably the most sinister factor of using food grains as a bio-diesel source is that the vast majority of arable land in the U.S. would be pre-empted for fuel. Your cornflakes and Cheerios would have to be imported from somewhere offshore. Not a good idea.

Marine algae thrive in salty water; water like the Great Salt Lake where several algae ponds are currently in production. Marine algae like lots of sunlight which is plentiful throughout the South West, South Central and South East. Marine algae thrive on cheap feedstock such as city waste water. They also reproduce at phenomenal rates, becoming self sustaining, all year round.

The oil produced by marine algae is directly useable in any standard diesel engine now manufactured in the United States. There is no need to change any of our service station pumps which are already pumping diesel; merely changing reversing the ratio of gasoline pumps to diesel in order to accommodate the phase out of gasoline as a primary transportation fuel. Distribution and storage infrastructure also need no changes as pipelines, tanks and over the road delivery works equally well with diesel.

Marine bio-diesel yields have been estimated at 1700 gallons of fuel grade oil per acre/year. Extrapolating from that, it would take about 16,000 acres of pond to nurture algae and produce enough diesel fuel to replace the entire annual transportation fuel needs of the United States. The money, in billions of dollars, spent in building the production infrastructure would remain within the homeland.

 There is, of course, a down side to all this serendipity. There are varieties of algae which invade the open ponds now being studied. They can be so vigorous as to squeeze out our oil producing plants, rendering the pond useless. Current technology has developed sealed photo reactor “ponds” which eliminate the problem of foreign algae incursion. At present, they seem universally too expensive to implement on a large scale.

I contacted the project director at the University of New Hampshire, offering my services as a design draftsman in the project. I was informed of the alien incursion problem and that “We’re working on it.” UNH estimated it would take three to four years to come up with a sealed production system that would be cheap enough to build. Any such system would have to cost less than current petroleum refining systems.

 Someone once said…

 “If we can put a man on the moon and bring him back alive, we can do anything!” Personally, I like that thinking.

We all understand (or should do by now) the importance of alternative fuel being developed and encouraged in South Africa and the rest of the world. 

Why is it that things are being made so difficult for those putting in the effort?

Also, as with all emerging markets, those who get in early expect to make some money from it.  An accepted economic fact for those lucky enough to survive the roadblocks along the way.  

Here I refer specifically to those NGO's and entrepreneurs that support the 'cause'.  'Big Business' seem to want to gather in the 'little okes', check out their research and development, gobble them up only to spit them out in the not-too-distant future.  OK, some financial help to survive and grow is a wonderful carrot; but at what cost?  And what is the rest of the country going to really benefit by this?

My personal little view is that, although big business and government has the moral and legal responsibility  and financial clout to DO something about the alternative fuel and energy issues (and they ARE doing something, I am told), I believe that the decentralising of energy and biofuel is the key.   This will create some much-needed jobs, skills, education, slow down urbanisation, empower a larger number of people and communities in the ways that matter most.

Feedstock oil for the manufacturing of biodiesel is a problem.  A growing one at that.  In South Africa we are limited to certain traditional food crops for feedstock (Jatropha not being allowed yet; and algae technology still being developed).  Feedstock oil is therefore being imported at huge cost (up to R14 per litre) from countries and companies/individuals that (rightly) see the opportunity to make hay while the sun shines.  

Not to be outdone, many local companies have leapt onto the bandwagon and are charging premium prices for used vegetable oil and stuff that is sometimes really of questionable quality and content.

Being a manufacturer of small biodiesel processing units, Bioman Energy discusses this scenario with clients on a daily basis.  The bottom line is:  how will the the deadline for a biodiesel blend in 2013 be met if the small manufacturer of biodiesel is not encouraged by govenment with the introduction of some means of support to  import feedstock oil and/or the planting of the high-yield crops that will be neccessary to achieve this goal?

The planting of feedstock crops by communities (supported by NGO's and government), I believe will create more empowerment than would the large-scale control and planting of feedstock crops by 'international investors' and large companies.   The question here should be:  Is it for South African use or for export?   If not for South African use, then NO!  No exploitation!  We look after our own people and their needs first.  International companies should take their money-carrots elsewhere!  

An interesting piece can be read on the following link :  http://www.biofpr.com/view/MTAwMDE3L05XLzUxL251bGw=/newsDetail.html

Yeah, I get emotional about this stuff.  I am still mild compared to the people that attended the CURES workshop with me recently.  Check their web site too.  

…and I am not even a 'real greenie'.   I just work hard at something I believe in and believe will make a difference.

Why are YOU in the biodiesel business?