DIRECT TO ETHANOL

GREENBACKS: Even in hot, sunny places like Florida, there are still seasons when production slows down due to weather.
PHOTO: ERIK KELLAR PHOTOGRAPHY

How It Works   
The clear plastic bags used in the direct-to-ethanol technology look like giant hanging file folders. Each bag is 10 feet by four feet, 2 inches deep and has capacity of 50 liters. The bag is filled with saltwater, which is inoculated with algae culture. All green plants, including algae, take in water and CO2 from the atmosphere, and combine those elements as a precursor to sugar, which, with Algenol’s two-step direct-to-ethanol process, is immediately converted to ethanol. In the end, 85 percent of the carbon consumed produces ethanol and the remaining 15 percent is spent algae.

When that process is complete, a simple centrifuge is used for separation. Spent algae goes one way and liquid goes another. Next comes a two-step ethanol purification process, the first of which is patented by Algenol and the second is no different than the method used by the corn-ethanol industry, he adds. The remaining biomass, or spent algae, is turned into green crude in a six-minute process, which can potentially be sent to a refinery to produce mostly gasoline or diesel and some jet fuel. The four fuels can be produced for about $1.30 a gallon each, the company says.

ARTICLE:

A Florida algae-to-ethanol operation is poised to go commercial scale

Author: Holly Jessen
Managing Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine
701-738-4946 
hjessen@bbiinternational.com

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We need as many ways to produce fuels as possible.

We should be very happy with each new one that happens.

Remember there are already many ways to produce Hydrogen & Ethanol.