At least it is green.
Gene Coyle
On May 29, 2008, at 6:38 AM, Jim Devine wrote:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-greencrude29-2008may29,0,1053218.story
From the Los Angeles Times
Sapphire Energy turns algae into 'green crude' for fuel
The San Diego company says its product can produce ultra-clean
gasoline and diesel for existing vehicles.
By Elizabeth Douglass / Los Angeles Times Staff Writer / May 29, 2008
A San Diego company said Wednesday that it could turn algae into oil,
producing a green-colored crude yielding ultra-clean versions of
gasoline and diesel without the downsides of biofuel production.
The year-old company, called Sapphire Energy, uses algae, sunlight,
carbon dioxide and non-potable water to make "green crude" that it
contends is chemically equivalent to the light, sweet crude oil that
has been fetching more than $130 a barrel in New York futures trading.
[if global warming promotes the growth of alga blooms, then we can
produce more "green oil," and so (by burning it) create more global
warming? a vicious circle?]
Chief Executive Jason Pyle said that the company's green crude could
be processed in existing oil refineries and that the resulting fuels
could power existing cars and trucks just as today's more polluting
versions of gasoline and diesel do.
"What we're talking about is something that is radically different,"
Pyle said. "We really look at this as a paradigm change."
[when I hear the words "paradigm change," I reach for my BS
deflector...]
Sapphire's announcement is the latest development from companies and
researchers focused on finding ways to cut harmful emissions from the
nation's giant fleet of cars, trucks, trains and planes.
Sapphire's process would help curb the nation's reliance on imported
crude and alleviate concerns about the world's dwindling supply of
oil, Pyle said. And by using carbon dioxide spewed out by such things
as coal plants, the production process would help remove harmful
emissions from the atmosphere.
The green crude also would produce fewer pollutants in the refining
process and fewer harmful emissions from vehicle tailpipes, Pyle said.
The company wouldn't give details about the production process or
where its pilot project would be located. It expects to introduce its
first fuels in three years and reach full commercial scale in five
years.
Pyle wouldn't cite the price tag for producing a barrel of green
crude, but he described the expected cost as competitive with
extracting oil from deep-water deposits and oil sands. The company
already has produced green versions of jet fuel, diesel and clear,
premium-grade gasoline, he said.
Today's biofuels -- in the United States, that's biodiesel and
corn-based ethanol -- have helped displace petroleum but also have
troublesome characteristics that reduce their appeal. Corn-derived
ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel eat into land used to grow food,
and their production and distribution consume large amounts of energy.
Many companies are making strides in producing ethanol from nonfood
sources such as switch grass, plant waste or recycled paper.
Virent Energy Systems Inc., based in Madison, Wis., in March unveiled
a joint venture with Shell Oil Co. that would produce "biogasoline"
from plant sugars -- creating fuel that could be distributed through
existing pipes and stations and used in existing vehicles.
And there are plenty of companies working toward producing oil from
algae. The idea isn't new, but interest and research have grown so
significantly that websites such as Oilgae.com are devoted to the
topic.
"One thing that is encouraging is the level of attention and the
investment that's happening to really try to find better ways to fuel
our transportation system," said Don Anair, vehicles analyst for the
Union of Concerned Scientists.
Anair said he was encouraged by Sapphire's reported research results.
But he said he'd want to see the greenhouse gas effects of the entire
process, from production to combustion, before passing judgment on
Sapphire's green crude.
"Changing to this green crude could certainly have very good benefits
in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, but it may not address some of
the traditional tailpipe pollutants that are responsible for smog or
ozone," he said.
Even if the fuel doesn't contain nitrogen, Anair added, the combustion
process adds air to the mix and generally creates harmful nitrogen
oxides.
That caveat was echoed at the state Air Resources Board, which is
charged with guiding California's goal of reducing the carbon content
of fuels and sharply cutting statewide greenhouse gas emissions.
"The emissions reductions may be coming from the refining process but
we would still have emissions issues in and from the vehicle," air
board spokesman Dimitri Stanich said after reviewing Sapphire's news
release. "We wish them luck and look forward to their technical
studies that demonstrate the cost and feasibility of their production
processes."
The emissions from Sapphire's fuels are being tested by an outside
company. Pyle said that because the fuels don't contain sulfurs or
nitrogen, "our expectation is that there will not be those kinds of
emissions."
The company is privately owned and backed with funding from Wellcome
Trust, a British charity, and venture capital firms such as Arch
Venture Partners and Venrock. Sapphire's technology was born out of
collaborations with Scripps Research Institute, UC San Diego, the
University of Tulsa and the Energy Department's Joint Genome Project.
Pyle said the genome researchers helped the company pinpoint the kind
of algae best suited to making oil.
Robert Nelsen, managing partner at Arch, could barely contain his
enthusiasm for the venture.
"We want to displace the existing petroleum system with a continuous
production system that is essentially an oil field on top of the
ground that produces oil on a continuous basis for as long as you want
it to," he said.
"You wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the
implications of this."
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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