Algae and Coffee Grounds

Algae image from gas2.org

The newest trends in renewable fuels?

Algae and Coffee

Algae: A month ago I attended the UofM’s E3 2008 Conference. The three Es: Energy, Economic, and Environmental. Although the largest E in the conference was Energy, followed closely by Economic, with the Environmental coming in third. There were many industry professionals exploring how they can make money off of renewable energy.

At the conference I attended a track session about using algae as biofuel. It has some interesting advantages:  you can grow it by power plants where it will suck up excess CO2, it grows in either sea water or fresh water, and its grows really fast. The biofuel created from it is high-quality enough to be used in jets. Also, it won’t compete with other human or livestock food sources, like corn, although some argue we could use excess algae to feed the hungry.

I gathered the biggest challenge is finding a way to grow the algae in deeper pools and provide enough oxygen and nutrients. Shallow pools take up too much surface area. There is an additional challenge of economically  growing algae in northern climates in winter with freezing temperatures and limited sunlight.

For more info check out the conference track session (first one listed) with the presenter’s PowerPoints and the Algal Biomass Organization. I found their news page to be a good source of information.

Coffee: The American Chemical Society sent out a press release last week about the potential of spent coffee grounds as biofuel. Apparently $8 million worth of potential in the US alone. Coffee grounds contain as much oil by weight as traditional biofuel like soybeans and you don’t have to grow it. Researchers worked with a multinational coffeehouse to collect used grounds and were able to inexpensively convert 100% of the oil from the grounds into biodiesel. The best part is the gas smells like coffee.