When it comes to developing alternative fuels, algae is surfacing as a major contender.
The potential for algae as fuel source has been know for quite awhile and now major fuel companies such as ExxonMobil are researching and developing next generation biofuels from this very versatile plant.
And so are a couple of high school students.
Harley School senior Nathan Dobson and junior Kevin Stottler have the same goal is major fuel companies. They are experimenting on a small scale with very small plant: algae.
It is abundant and versatile and can be grown easily on a large scale. The algae that can be converted to biodiesel is a little bit different than the stuff that grows on the inside of your fish tank.
“It’s been genetically engineered to have a higher content of oils and lipids to serve as a substitute for diesel fuel,” said Stottler.
Nathan and Kevin just finished putting together the bioreactor and started it up last week. Part of their experiment is also figuring out the right ingredients to help the algae grow quickly and in large quantities.
“We have water algae fertilizer and all that in here, CO2 from the air and light currently from these lamps, but it’s going to be from the sun in our final model," Dobson added. "We’re still trying to figure out the amounts we have to use from the data we get from this we can figure out how to grow on a large scale and produce useful quantities of diesel fuel.”
That will mean expanding production to a larger bioreactor and using sunlight as an energy source instead of artificial light.
Once large-scale production is up and running, the biodiesel will be used in a car owned by the school. The plan is to capture the CO2 from the car, use it in the fuel reactor to generate new algae and as a new fuel source.
“My hope is that we can produce biodiesel that can compete with petroleum diesel in the market.”
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