Ethanol and biodiesel: Guilty as charged

[longknife]

Not only too expense and eco-unfriendly, these bio fuels actually harm vehicle engines. Yet billions are continually spent to support them. Read more on this @ Ethanol and biodiesel Guilty as charged

 

[Mr. H.]

In trying to get a bio-diesel facility built in our community, I led a team of volunteers in completing an exhaustive site survey at the request of a local Co-operative. Their selection committee told us it was better than anything they'd seen from paid professionals.

In my research, I discovered just how insane it is the amounts of electricity, natural gas, and fresh water that are required.
In addition to a massive waste stream.

Some years later, a colleague told me his boss was considering building one of these things. I handed him a copy of our survey and said "have him read this... he'll change his mind but quick".

 

[JiggsCasey]

are there people here seriously advocating algae oil or corn fuel? really?

 

[waltky]

Biodiesel made from microalgae...

Chilean Scientists Produce Biodiesel From Microalgae
June 30, 2017 — Biodiesel made from microalgae could power buses and trucks and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 80 percent, Chilean scientists said, possibly curbing pollution in contaminated cities like Santiago.

Experts from the department of Chemical Engineering and Bioprocesses at Chile's Catholic University said they had grown enough algae to fragment it and extract the oil which, after removing moisture and debris, can be converted into biofuel. "What is new about our process is the intent to produce this fuel from microalgae, which are microorganisms," researcher Carlos Saez told Reuters.

Biochemist Cesar Saez (L) does a test on the engine of a car with a biofuel made with microalgae for high displacement diesel engines for reducing emissions of gases and particulate matter in Santiago, Chile​

Most of the world's biodiesel, which reduces dependence on petroleum, is derived from soybean oil. It can also be made from animal fat, canola or palm oil.

Saez said a main challenge going forward would be to produce a sufficient volume of microalgae. A wide variety of fresh and salt water algaes are found in Chile, a South American nation with a long Pacific coast. The scientists are trying to improve algae growing technology to ramp up production at a low cost using limited energy, Saez said.

Chilean Scientists Produce Biodiesel From Microalgae

See also:

Scientists: Clean Fuel From 'Bionic Leaf' Could Ease Pressure on Farmland
June 02, 2016 — A new clean technology to turn sunlight into liquid fuel could drastically shrink the need for large plantations to grow crops for biofuels, while combating climate change, Harvard University researchers said on Thursday.

That could help protect food supplies and local people's land rights, they suggested. Dubbed "bionic leaf 2.0," the technology uses solar panels to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen, the scientists said in a study published in the journal Science. Once separated, hydrogen is moved into a chamber where it is consumed by bacteria, and with help from a special metal catalyst and carbon dioxide, the process generates liquid fuel.

The method is an artificial version of the photosynthesis process plants use to make energy from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, scientists said. If it becomes economically viable, the technology could replace oil wells or plantations where food crops are grown for fuel, the study's lead author said. "This [new energy source] is not competing with food for agricultural land," Harvard University Professor of Energy Daniel Nocera told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Crops for fuel, rather than food

Crops such as corn and sugar cane have been increasingly cultivated to produce biofuels. About 4 percent of the world's farmland is used to grow crops for fuel rather than food, according to a University of Virginia study published in March. Tens of thousands of small-scale farmers across Africa, Asia and Latin America have been displaced by plantations growing crops to make biofuels, according to GRAIN, a Barcelona-based land rights group. The new technology could help protect their land rights while also reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet, Nocera said. "The [land] footprint these solar panels need is about one-tenth the size of what you would need for sugar cane," he said.

If governments put a price on carbon-dioxide emissions, the "bionic leaf" would appeal to investors as a cost-effective alternative energy source, the professor added. Today, however, it remains cheaper to grow biofuel crops or extract fossil fuels than to produce renewable energy, Nocera said. A carbon tax boosting U.S. gas prices to European levels -- although not yet on the cards -- would likely be enough to spur investment in the new technology, he said. "Bionic leaf 2.0" converts solar energy into liquid fuel with 10 percent efficiency, far higher than the 1 percent efficiency seen in the fastest-growing plants that use a similar process, Nocera added.

Scientists: Clean Fuel From 'Bionic Leaf' Could Ease Pressure on Farmland

 

[Old Rocks]

Well, not to worry. Both will be replaced by battery driven vehicles. Tesla has already built a prototype long haul truck that operates on batteries. At present, the batteries are not enough for long haul, but, given the developments in various labs, by 2025, the batteries will have sufficient energy density to do long haul.

Tesla plans to unveil a semi-truck but batteries can't pack enough energy for long-haul trucking