You Can Have It Both Ways, Nick. The algae "husk" contains sugars-starch-cellulose (carbohydrates CxHyOz)n the same as land plants which at about 200 to 350 C exothermally decompose to strong Carbon-Carbon Bonds giving off Carbon Monoxide, H2O, and some H2 along with CO2, ask any fireman that fights the exothermal reaction of plaster-covered wood in buildings.
You can do the same thing with sugar or flour in your oven a 350 F and above. The point is algae dried to 15% moisture or so can be pyrolized to BIO-CHAR and Oil at these low temperatures with the heat mostly provided by their exotherm. Otherwise known as SAE; Spontaneous Algae Exotherm. 10W-40? :-) Fred Nick Palmer wrote: > > > More on marine algae etc. Of course, one does not need to pyrolyse the (oil > expressed) algae into charcoal. Maybe fertilising the growth of > coccolithophores would be even quicker for Branson. Chalk is formed in > shallow waters by the gradual accumulation of the calcite mineral remains of > phytoplanton micro-organisms (coccolithophores), over millions of years. > Chalk is a very stable form of carbon sequestration... BTW I was surprised > to see that the ocean Ph is already decreasing in line with the increased > levels of CO2 and that this may get to a point where it interferes with the > natural sequestration of atmospheric CO2 by coccolithophores thus acting as > a rather serious positive feedback effect. > To those who worry about unstoppable climate change happening whether we > like it or not, I thought (correct me if I am wrong) that the normal > expectation was that Earth should have been cooling down, heading towards > the next glacial period? The fact that temperatures seem to be increasing > holds out the promise that we can balance our emissions of CO2 etc to a > lower optimum level that stabilises our climate and prevents the slide into > an ice age. Or not - who knows? > > > Nick Palmer >
