Monday, April 20, 2009
Breaking new Technology.OriginOil's Single-Step Extraction reduces complex harvesting processes to a single, cost-effective step.
Algae is fast emerging as the potential competitor to fossil giant. Within short time your car will be running on 50% algae biodiesel. This is possible with rapid development in Algae culturing to harvest and processing into biodiesel and residue cake into very important raw materials and products. Commercialization breakthrough at large scale is not very far , is at the door step and is already looking promising and exiciting with these new technologies.
According to Origin oil press release,the following were identified and discussed.
1stGeneration: billions invested in corn, vegetable oils, sugar cane. Caused major food supply dislocations in 2008.
2ndGeneration: more billions being invested in non-food land crops such as grasses, forestry, jatropha. Food chain dislocation avoided, but major issues of land and water use remain.
3rdGeneration: the first really sustainable biofuel:
Not a food crop.
Minimal land required.
Accepts waste, brackish, or salt water –and in the process creates clean water.
Substantial rates of CO2 absorption.
Rapid harvests, permitting industrial scale production.
Algae is the most promising 3rd Generation feedstock.
However, substantial technology barriers exist, preventing industrial scale production
The sun is nature’s renewable source of electricity.
Algae is nature’s renewable source of oil.
The key to transforming algae into a sustainable energy source is breakthrough technologies in optimizing and speeding up the process of algae growth and harvest.
Driven by rising oil prices, Kyoto protocol and global warming concerns, countries worldwide are quickly embracing petroleum alternatives such as ethanol and biodiesel, which can curb their dependence on imported oil with minimal infrastructure change. The market for a new oil is proven and expanding rapidly.
OriginOil’s breakthrough technology, based on algae, is targeted at fundamentally changing the world’s source of oil without disrupting the environment or food resources. An endless supply of this new oil can be used in many of products like diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, plastics and solvents without the global warming effects of petroleum.
Only by industrializing the manufacture of new oil can the current and future demands of global industrialization be met.
OriginOil™, Inc. is developing a breakthrough technology that will transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum. More...
Much of the world's oil and gas is made up of ancient algae deposits. Today, the technology will produce "new oil" from algae, through a cost-effective, high-speed manufacturing process. This endless supply of new oil can be used for many products such as diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, plastics and solvents without the global warming effects of petroleum. More...
Other oil-producing feedstock such as corn and sugarcane often destroy vital farmlands and rainforests, disrupt global food supplies and create new environmental problems.The unique technology, based on algae, is targeted at fundamentally changing our source of oil without disrupting the environment or food supplies.Instead of drilling for old oil, we can now manufacture clean, new oil, anytime and anywhere, delivering a revolutionary breakthrough to the world.
OriginOil’s patent-pending, breakthrough technology can provide the world with an endless supply of cost-competitive and environment-friendly oil to displace petroleum.
Unlike many current approaches to algae oil cultivation, OriginOil is employing several next-generation technologies to greatly enhance algae cultivation and oil extraction, and to allow scalable industrialization of this process to make algae a high-yield, cost-competitive replacement for petroleum.
There are three primary challenges in cultivating algae for oil:
1. Algae growth is dependent on a calm fluid environment; it does not like agitation. One of the primary challenges is how to optimally introduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and nutrients needed by the growing algae culture without disrupting or over-aerating it.
2. Algae requires light as a source of energy to fuel its growth and oil production facilities. Algae cultivation systems need to cost-effectively and evenly distribute light within the algae culture.
3. Algae organisms are protected by a tough cell wall. That wall must be cracked - an energy-expensive process - to extract the oil. The challenge is to maximize oil yield by cracking as many of the algae cells as possible with the smallest amount of energy.
The Problem with Crop-Based Biofuels
A new generation of biofuels, derived from farmed crops such as corn, sugarcane, rapeseed and palm has been touted as the replacement for petroleum. But these all fall short of displacing petroleum because they require vast amounts of precious resources like water, rainforests, and farmlands. Additionally, crops like corn require a great deal of energy to turn into fuel and are less energy-rich than petroleum.
Simply put, no farmed crop can compete with petroleum. Biofuels as we know them are a dead end.
Algae Is the Ideal Replacement for Oil
A small organism, micro-algae (algae), is the natural replacement for petroleum. In fact, most of the petroleum we use today is made up of ancient algae. Algae is a highly efficient biological factory capable of taking carbon dioxide (CO2), a waste product, and converting it into a high-density liquid form of natural oil through photosynthesis.
In other words, algae turns CO2, a bad thing, directly into oil, a good thing.
Algae is fast growing – each oil-producing cell can mature in just hours
Algae is oil-rich — contains as much as 60% of its dry weight in oil
Algae is carbon neutral – meaning that it does not affect climate like petroleum
Algae is fuel efficient – as much as 1000 times more productive than corn
Challenges of Producing Algae Oil
How to maximize light exposure for optimum growth
How to optimize CO2 absorption to maximize oil content
How to keep energy requirements low
How to make systems affordable
How to operate a highly efficient process flow
OriginOil’s breakthrough technology addresses these challenges and can enable the cost-efficient production of oil from algae to compete with petroleum.
With OriginOil, algae will fulfill its potential as the new oil.The company's technology combines electromagnetism and pH modification to break down cell walls, releasing algal oil within the cells.
Finally the Helixbioreactor development has proven very efficient is is known to efficient grow the algae for fast biomass accumulation.
The above is a helixbioreactor developed for lab use. The pilot plant scale is large is very efficient. It is believed and is very optimistic that helixbioreactor will maintain very low operational cost and add to maintaining high productivity.