The following was left as a comment in the algae biodiesel discussion by Sam Haynes. I felt it too interesting to be left buried deep in that other post, so here it is. Some eye-opening points here, please leave your comments…

"When I was first asked to write an article on alternate fuels for this blog, I did so to test my ability to write an article which would generate some interest, arouse some participation and stir the pot of discussion, so to speak.

I had no idea that what I wrote would stir the pot so well.

I have learned a lot reading these posts over the last few weeks. I encourage you to keep stirring, for I firmly believe that you can, one by one, piece by piece, come up with realistic approaches with meaningful ROI.

One of the early posts remarked that there is no one all encompassing solution to the alternative fuel pie challenge, rather various slices, each appropriate to a unique situation or set of constraints. I agree.

Marine Algae Biodiesel (MAB)is specific to the needs of our national transportation systems. The consumer infra-structure is already in place, needing only a change of signage on the pumps and station marquees. We could conclude that the arguments pro MAB are good and sufficient, requiring only resolution of the political and venture capital financial dog fights we are only too familiar with.

Ethanol from U.S. corn fields is a highly subsidized product requiring massive conversion of food grain acreage into subsidized corn production. The negative back lash against the status quo (AMD in case) is mounting daily and rightly so. The ROI number crunch is not friendly to Ethanol for fuel. Brazil is universally cited as a model for ethanol for transportation but hardly any mention is made of the massive and necessary technology changes in automobile fuel handling to make the system work. There seems to be too much smoke and mirrors around the concept for the U.S. to make Ethanol a meaningful fuel alternate.

Fuel cells and elementary Hydrogen are also two exciting alternatives, both of which would require massive industrial production and delivery technology changes. Both are worth further R&D and are feasible for limited specialized applications where cost is a minor factor.

Two of the most interesting alternate sources are Wind Turbines, excellent for remote power grid locations where wind is a constant reliable source, and Geothermal steam tukrbine power generators.

Of the two, Wind is a highly developed, currently in use application in remote and isolated regions globally. Its ROI based on location constraints is excellent.

Geothermal power generation is a sleeping giant currently being exploited around the world in some of the most unlikely locations. There is something almost seminal about drawing nourishment from the heart of mother earth.

The potential energy available from the hot strata deep within our crust is for all practical purposes, inexhaustible. The technology for deep well drilling is already available and currently being used. Deep strata sourcing can be drilled literally anywhere a rig can be set up.

More easily tapped geothermal sources can be made along any volcanic fault lines, of which the U.S. has several. (I used to live in Hawai'i (The comma actually belongs there) and local proposals to tap the main island volcano, Kiluea, for live steam production cum turbo electric power generation were met with controlled rage by some of the state's native Hawaian population who still cling to the pagan religious beliefs, especially those of Pele, goddess of fire and volcanos. Powerful stuff! There are more user friendly places.

Within the contiguous states, the most likely location is Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone has several good reasons for establishing a large geothermal power plant there, the obvious one being evidenced by the geysers, numerous geysers, present in what geologists and volcanologists call the Yellowstone Caldera. The geothermal source is very close to the surface there, making its use more cost effective.

There is a more pressing reason to source power there and that is the history of Yellowstone Caldera. Some seventeen thousand years ago it blew up, sending a lethal layer of volcanic ash as far east as Kansas, killing everything it fell upon. The blow up was the latest in a cyclical blast that some geologists calculate to occur every 17,000 years, plus or minus.

It would seem that we are presently due for that big bang at Yellowstone any time now. Not impressed? Due diligence, my friends, due diligence. Google: "Yellowstone Caldera volcanic activity". BTW, I am citing all this off the top of my head from data I read some years ago. Check me out, please. Don't take anyone's word for anything until you personally have checked out their credibility. Me included!

Their is an ad by General Electric, I believe, currently running on TV, promoting geothermal energy. They make some mind boggling claims. Check that out.

I believe that, using all or some of the alternate energy pie slices above, that we could be totally energy independent within the next fifteen to twenty years.

We put a man on the moon, not once but many times. We can do anything if we set a national goal and commit to making personal sacrifices till we get it done.

The only thing standing in our way is our own apathy, a "Let George do it; I don't want to get involved" national curse. My friends, it is for me a struggle of morals and spirituality against the lust for power and greed for money.

Election day is coming up next Tuesday. Do you know whose bed your candidate is sleeping in tonight? Do you approve? Tell that scoundrel next week. Demand accountability. It is your right. One small vote can make a big difference."

Aloha oe,

Pathfinder

…thanks for that Sam, interesting stuff I'm sure you'd agree. So, what do you think…?

Get Friendly With Your Local Restaurant

Are you looking for somewhere to get hold of waste cooking oil to use in your biodiesel making experiments? Contact your local eating places…they're probably throwing a ton of the stuff away each day.

Check out Lucas Manteca who owns a seafood restaurant. The environmentally conscious owner wanted to make his restaurant as enviro-friendly as possible so instead of throwing out his waste oil as sewage he gives it to a company called Waste Oil Recyclers….who then proceed to go and sell it off as biodiesel and make a pretty penny.

Now of course, what you want to do is get in there first before these new companies, which are springing up all over the place, get there first!

Do you use local contacts?  I'd love to hear about it, leave a comment below…

Biodiesel Trains?

Over here in the UK, they're trialling a South West Train run on diesel, soya beans and rapeseed oil over the Exeter-London-Salisbury route.

Over the next few months they're going to decide whether it improves the speed, engine or emissions.

…bet it's still not on time though! (cheap shot I know)

Pond Life May Power Cars And Planes In The Future

A company called Sapphire Energy claims to have developed a green crude oil that is identical to regular crude oil… but which doesn't affect climate change and doesn't need acres of land to produce.

Too good to be true?

Sapphire has so far raised about $50m in venture capital recently as investors see "green crude" as the future of oil supplies.

Of course this type of algae biodiesel has been discussed on this site before but where Sapphire claim to differ is in not just concentrating on producing ethanol and biodiesel but instead creating traditional crude oil. As for what type of algae they are using Sapphire are keeping quiet although commentators say they're likely to be using a genetically modified cyanobacteria, otherwise known as blue-green algae. These organisms are capable of doubling their mass in an hour!

Sapphire hopes to be at a stage of commercial production within 3 to 5 years.

They do of course have their critics, John Loughhead of the UK Energy Research Centre argues "it's a very sound idea but…are they able to do anything practical in an efficient way" he goes on "They also have the classic renewable's problem in that you're dealing with energy from the sun…so you're only getting peak conditions around 0.5KW per square metre. You need vast, great big farms."

Algae is one alternative fuel source we here at biodieselfuelonline are optimistic about, we'll have to wait and see what the future brings. You may enjoy the algae discussion from this earlier article.

(Thanks to The Guardian UK for source material)

Did you know that Prince Charles cut his tax bill by £5000 last year despite earning an additional £1 million because of some cunning accounting and he also managed to reduce his carbon footprint.

How did he cut his carbon footprint? By converting his sports car to run on cheese and wine.

No, really!

As the Prince states in his own annual review the car now runs on "100% bioethanol made from surplus wine".

Now the wine used is apparently "surplus" English wine which isn't allowed to be sold off for consumers. So old Charlie simply sticks it in his vehicles!

Apparently the exhaust smells like vodka and it cost Charles £5000 to convert his car.

But good on him I say, of course it helps if you have the cash to do this. Onto another alternative fuel nut…

Neil Young Loves Biodiesel

As Neil himself recently said "I feel like I have a lot to do, I really would like to work on the energy problem, on solutions to the oil need."

So what has Neil been doing about it?

He's created a prototype model called the Linc Volt, a 1959 Lincoln Continental which he's converted into an electrically powered, multifuel beast which has its own generators!

He also drives a gargantuan Hummer converted to run on biodiesel and explains his future mission thus…

"What I'm really focused on, is to work out a way to eliminate roadside refuelling and come up with a way to build a car that creates its own fuel and powers the owner's house."

To see more on the technology go take a look at www.lincvolt.com

Now it's true that we may not have the resources of these rather affluent folks but I'm always glad when famous people manage to bring renewable energies into the limelight.

What do you think?

(Thanks to The Times for the quotes)

Here's a great article reprinted from The Guardian about how Biodiesel has really taken off in the last few months over here in the UK…

I've reprinted it here, I'm sure my good friends at the Guardian won't mind (after all, I buy their paper every week!)

Enjoy….

Every few weeks Gordon Elliott drives 22 miles to the Hare and Hounds pub in Marple, Cheshire, collects a barrel of waste cooking oil from his stepdaughter and takes it back to his personal oil refinery in his garage in Leigh, near Bolton. The retired construction site manager then decants the liquid into a machine and adds a few chemicals.

Twenty-four hours later the waste oil has been purified, filtered and refined and is ready to be used in one of his family's two diesel cars. Instead of paying £1.25p a litre at the local supermarket, he has paid 15p to make his own biodiesel. He says he is saving nearly £100 a month - as well as 90% of the greenhouse gases he would normally emit from driving. The cars perform perfectly, the equipment will be paid for within a year and the pleasure of making his own fuel is intense. "It's the principle. I do it for the environment and to spite the exchequer," he said.

Elliott, 79, is part of a cottage industry of people who have turned to making their own recycled "biodiesel" in response to the doubling of fuel prices in just over a year. Companies making biodiesel "reactors" report booming sales and demand for cheaper diesel is outstripping anything they can produce.

"Our business has doubled in size in just the last six months," said David Taylor of Ecotec Resources, the Lancashire company which sold Elliott his machine and which also makes 100,000 litres a year of recycled fuel.

"If you can collect your own oil it works out at about 15p a litre. Otherwise you can buy in your waste oil for about 30p, so you are getting diesel for about 45p. That's a big saving on the forecourt price." He is selling 15-20 biodiesel machines a week and has sold 800 in under a year to taxi firms, hauliers, restaurants and others.

DIY diesel is seen by many as the revenge of the little man on the government, oil companies and the authorities. No one knows how many backroom refineries there are in Britain, but a government study suggested there were around 1,400 small scale plants producing a few thousand litres a year in 2005/6. Since then the price of diesel has more than doubled and the market for machines has risen. People in the industry suggest there are 35 companies refining recycled oil commercially and perhaps 20,000 individuals making private arrangements to collect and process oil from local restaurants, chip shops and food manufacturers.

Since the law was relaxed to allow people to make 2,500 litres a year for their own use, most are working legally, but as the price of fuel rises inexorably, so criminal elements are moving in.

"There are wars going on in London to get the oil," said Tom Lasica, who runs Pure Fuels, London's largest refiner of vegetable oil. "Spanish and German companies are moving in to buy up British used vegetable oil. People are stealing it from each other and selling it abroad. We heard that one fish and chip shop in Southend was broken into just to steal the waste oil."

"A lot of people are making the diesel for new cars. A year ago most people were putting it into old cars. Now the quality of the oil is critical," said Kym Leatt, a director of Envirogroup, which collects, refines and sells 7,500 litres a week in Kent.

"If we could produce five times as much biodiesel we could sell it just like that," said Leatt. "Demand has grown exponentially. Every day we have two or three new businesses asking us. Some companies are saving £25,000 a year. Were selling it to hauliers, taxi firms, fleets of tipper trucks. In the past it would either go down the drain or go to landfill. This is true recycling." He is selling for 98p a litre compared with £1.18-£1.25 at the pumps.

"Demand is going through the roof. We're selling biodiesel machines to the average Joe, universities, schools, restaurants, taxi drivers, absolutely anyone," said James Hygate, a director of GreenFuels. "We've noticed a surge of people driving company cars. They are making their own and then claiming 45p a mile from their firms.

"It's a true grassroots industry. The better quality oil is being taken at source by the small guys. Home scale production is definitely growing fast. Groups of farmers are beginning to grow the crops and make their own diesel."

Demand is growing from institutions and local authorities. The borough of Richmond is this week putting out a tender for a £3.5m contract to run all its 300 council vehicles on recycled vegetable oil for the next three years. The council says it could save nearly £100,000 and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by several thousand tons.

Back in Marple, Elliott will this weekend be heading for the Hare and Hounds to pick up another barrel. "Everyone wants it. But if I have any left over I'll give it to the lad," he says.

Good stuff eh? 15p a litre, that's about 30 cents my American friends.

Always nice to see the little guy succeeding.

Leave your comments below…

Hey folks,

So here we go with our "weekly" round-up of biodisel goodness from around the world. I hope you enjoy it…

Safeway Go Green

The story that seems to have cropped up the most around the web this week is news that supermarket giant Safeway will now run its fleet of over 1000 trucks on biodiesel fuel across the USA.

"Our customers care about these types of sustainability issues, and we are proud to be a leader in environmental best practices," said Joe Pettus the senior vice president

China Gets Biodiesel Friendly

In the northern provnce of Hebei, around 7,000 hectares of biodiesel forest will be grown.

China is trying its best to fuel its massive and fast growing economy and its turned to biodiesel to achieve that.

Biodiesel At The Movies

Biodiesel will be featured in the upcoming film "Fields of Fuel". Josh Tickell's movie will be screened at the Sundance Film Festival this week and Tickell has used the movie to call for better support for biodiesel from politicians.

Although mainly a mouthpiece for the director's environmental preoccupations the film does offer some decent educational fodder about our favourite fuel source.

EU Bans Palm Oil Biodiesel?

Although it's Europe's aim to provide at least 10% of all vehicle fuel from biofuels by the year 2020, the EU is currently planning to ban palm oil biodiesel.

Environmentalists aruge that fuels made from palm oil are doing more damage to the environment because of the destruction of rainforests.

It seems the EU will ban any biofuel derived from "sensitive ecosystems" such as tropical forests and grasslands.

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A reasonably quiet time for all things biodiesel this week, any questions or comments please leave your message below and let's get some discussions going…

So here's the first in what will be regular updates of biodiesel news from around the globe. Enjoy…

School Bus Melted Into Biodiesel!?

A 1000 pound butter sculpture was recently unveiled at a Pennsylvania Farm Show. The sculpture depicts children getting on a school bus and is sure to wow your eyes as it is turn your stomach!

Take a look at the pic here

The sculpture will eventually be sent to Penn State University where it will be turned into biodiesel fuel. Hurrah!

Biodiesel Made From Rubber Seeds…

I receive a lot of emails asking me whether biodiesel can be made from this or that substance so - whaddya think about this?

Chemical engineering lecturer Mohammad Tazli Azizan apparently grew up playing around with rubber seeds as a kid (well, we all need a hobby!) and so he decided to find out what he could make from them and, yes, biodiesel was produced!

His only remaining problem is to find away to collect the rubber seeds adequately. Any suggestions?

Read the full story here

Chocolate Biodiesel…

Lastly, how's about this for an expedition? Eat your heart out Phileas Fogg. A couple of guys from the UK have just completed an extraordinary journey from the UK to Timbuktu in their truck powered by biodiesel.

It's a big enough feat in itself but did you know that the biodiesel was made entirely from chocolate?

From their site… "Confusion surrounding biofuels has lead to a backlash as it was revealed that some biofuels have a worse carbon footprint than their fossil counterparts, but recycling techniques and developing technology means biofuels can be made in such a way that they benefit the environment and the chocolate diesel is a great example of this."

The travellers delivered a biodiesel processing unit to a Malian charity which means they will now be able to produce biodiesel locally - which in turn means the whole journey has become carbon negative - a genuine world first. Congrats guys!

With the exception of hydroelectricity and nuclear energy, the majority of the worlds energy needs are supplied through petrochemical sources, coal and natural gas. All of these sources are finite and at certain usage rate will be consumed by the end of the next century. The depletion of the world petroleum reserves and increased environmental concerns has stimulated recent interest in alternative sources for petroleum based fuels.Biodiesel has arisen as a potential candidate for the diesel substitute due to the similarities it has with petroleum based diesel.

       Biodiesel defined as “a substitute for, or an additive to Diesel fuel that is derived from the oils and fats of plants and animals” or monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from a renewable lipid feedstock, such as vegetable oil or animal fat, is becoming popular in developing countries as well as developed ones. The European Union has set an objective to secure a market share for motor biofuels of 20%     of the total motor fuel consumption by 2020.Fossil diesel blended with 20%biodiesel produced from soybean oil is available in the US market now. Developing renewable energy is national strategy of Pakistan, which does not have plentiful fossil oil deposits. This big developing country with rapid economic growth needs more energy than before. The oil sector is looking for indigenous sources to reduce its dependence on imported crude oil and there can be no better source than ethanol and Biodiesel.  

    The major hurdle in commercialization of this renewable motor fuel in countries like Pakistan is high cost of oil, reagents and equipments, non availability of good quality raw material and lack of experties in this field.

 Pakistan has wide resources of both edible and non edible oil yielding plants. Among edible oil yielding plants cotton,canola,sun flower,Sesame,linseed,Safflower and Soybean are important while among non edible oil plants castor seed,jatropa,jojoba ,different species of acacia,pongammia pinata and many halophytes are common. .Although, Pakistan already face shortage of edible oil, yet by making proper arrangements and bioengineering of the crops yielding non edible oil, will help in the production of Biodiesel on large scale with in the country. Experiments have shown that Biodiesel derived from non edible oil seeds can be used in the designs of diesel vehicals.It will also result in the utilization of waste land, drought proofing and energy security for the country. The commercialization of Biodiesel in this poor country will lead to employment generation especially in rural areas and thus will help in reduction of poverty.Moreover, the availability of this fuel will open a new market for oil and fats in country so that both local and foreign investors will be attracted to make investment in this new field.Thus, it will also help in establishment of country economy.

      Pakistan at present imports crude oil worth billion of dollars every year to fulfill the demand from consumers like factories and vehicals.By commercialization this renewable fuel, Pakistan depend on foreign countries for petroleum import will be reduced.Moreover, the main advantage of using this renewable fuel is that it is environment friendly and all the exhaust gasses emitted are photosynthetic and not affect the green house.

     For commercialization of Biodiesel, government has to take some serious steps. The most important of which is that there should be good advertisement of this beneficial fuel throughout the country and government should facilitate the people which are interested in this field. The govt.should advise the oil and gas sector to make blend of 20%biodiesel with petro diesel. Thus, on one hand pollution rate will be reduced and on other hand our dependence on petroleum import will be decreased.

     Pakistan has vast areas which are not cultivable including sea shores, desserts, saline and waterlogged soils. It has been found that there grows many xerophytes and halophytes which yield non edible oil and can contribute to commercial Biodiesel production .

   Research in the fields of Biodiesel is in progress throughout the world and also on small scale in Pakistan. Although Pakistan is much backward in this field, yet in some institutes like Quid e Azam University, research on small scale is in progress. The main aim of research in this field is the development of suitable and cheaper materials and methods, improving the standard of existing raw materials in order to reduce cost benefit ratio. If our government takes serious steps and facilitates the research institutes, than that day is not far away when our vehicles will run on this renewable and environment friendly fuel.                                                                                        

By Faizan wazir and Asia Noshin,Phytohormone Lab,Quaid e Azam university,Islamabd,Pakistan