Comment & Debate
“Algae biofuel mania”. Stockhouse. 11 June 2008 – Algae can obtain carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide, but the amounts present are insufficient to promote rapid growth. That requires something like smokestack effluents containing more than 10% CO2, and in fact some of the earliest attempts to grow algae as a fuel source were predicated upon the development of pervasive industrial carbon dioxide capture. That’s not happening, and unless it does, real mass production of algal biofuel is scarcely possible. And when one is dealing with the other essential nutrients, which would likely be derived from solid wastes or agricultural residues, then one is competing with other forms alternative fuel production methods that don’t require photosynthetic life forms, methods such as gasification, thermal polymerization, and anaerobic digestion. And, it must be remembered, these sources are not infinite and would be severely drawn down if any attempt were made to substitute alternative fuels for petroleum.