Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 1914 Location: kiwibush
Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:22 pm Post subject: Re: Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton
(mod edit for dup pic)
So does this mean all six billion of us can now start preparing ourselves for garages full of harleys and holdens! I'ld love a Monaro V8 please! _________________ Bugger me, I hear oil's runnin out mate!
Joined: Sep 06, 2004 Posts: 5315 Location: Smalltown New Zealand
Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:31 pm Post subject: Re: Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton
americandream wrote:
So does this mean all six billion of us can now start preparing ourselves for garages full of harleys and holdens!
No it means we can prepare for the invasion of California to liberate the locals from tyranny, or WMD, or anything else we can think of that isn't plankton. _________________ "Complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers." - Henry Louis Mencken
Joined: Mar 10, 2005 Posts: 283 Location: Airstrip 1
Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:36 pm Post subject: Re: Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton
we cannot build 52,000 square kilometres of plankton pools along with all the pipelines, pumping stations, machinery and thermal depolymerisation plants which would be necessary.
it's an inconceivable project.
there just isn't enough spare concrete or steel available to do it.
Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 1914 Location: kiwibush
Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:44 pm Post subject: Re: Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton
Chicken_Little wrote:
we cannot build 52,000 square kilometres of plankton pools along with all the pipelines, pumping stations, machinery and thermal depolymerisation plants which would be necessary.
it's an inconceivable project.
there just isn't enough spare concrete or steel available to do it.
How big would the pool have to be (area wise and resource wise) for projected crude use in a fully developed planet......i.e. does this scheme have a peak point as well in terms of its own fabrication and operation? Can we, alternatively, use as not yet fully conceptualised materials for its fabrication? _________________ Bugger me, I hear oil's runnin out mate!
Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 1320 Location: Somewhere there
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:26 am Post subject: Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton
MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish company claimed on Thursday to have developed a method of breeding plankton and turning the marine plants into oil, providing a potentially inexhaustible source of clean fuel.
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Vehicle tests are some time away because the company, Bio Fuel Systems, has not yet tried refining the dark green coloured crude oil phytoplankton turn into, a spokesman said.
Bio Fuel Systems is a wholly Spanish firm, formed this year in eastern Spain after three years of research by scientists and engineers connected with the University of Alicante.
"Bio Fuel Systems has developed a process that converts energy, based on three elements: solar energy, photosynthesis and an electromagnetic field," it said in a press dossier.
"That process allows us to obtain biopetroleum, equivalent to that of fossil origin."
Phytoplankton, like other plants, absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. Scientists have examined the possibility of stimulating growth of the single cell plants as a means of reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
CO2, liberated by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, is widely held responsible for global warming.
Bio Fuel Systems said its new fuel would reduce CO2, was free of other contaminants like sulphur dioxide and would be cheaper than fossil oil is now.
"Our system of bioconversion is about 400 times more productive than any other plant-based system producing oil or ethanol," it said, referring to currently available biofuels made from plants like maize or oilseeds.
Bio Fuel Systems is working with scientists at the University of Alicante on the project. It has drawn up industrial plans to make the fuel and says it will be able to start continuous production in 14 to 18 months.
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:11 am Post subject: Re: Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton
Up to now I had failed to find any credible argument in THIS THREAD why algi to oil project would not work.
Concerning large reservoirs:
Build few dosen of medium sized dams (worldwide) and you are ok.
Single large dam (3 gorges alike) would also do!
Most of redundant drilling platforms could easily be 'recycled' into necessary pumping machinery etc.
Entire process would be carbon neutral (based on atmospheric CO2), therefore GW concerns are also irrelevant.
I will wait few years to see whats going on and buy new SUV if technology looks promissing.
Such a doom for doomers...
Last edited by EnergyUnlimited on Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:17 am; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Jun 26, 2004 Posts: 1189 Location: Madison,Wisconsin
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:33 am Post subject: Re: Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton
The problem is this. The company has claims. Have they any proof, even a little bit? They are a company looking to get money for funding. This means nothing till they are actually doing something with that money.
And, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't plankton little fish? They are telling me we are going to replace all the worlds oil production with little fish? _________________ Azreal60
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:37 am Post subject: Re: Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton
A member of the forum (Omar) who was completing his doctorate on algal fuel production had this to say about it all. No doubt similar problems apply for related feedstocks like plankton too.
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:49 am Post subject: Re: Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton
azreal60 wrote:
The problem is this. The company has claims. Have they any proof, even a little bit? They are a company looking to get money for funding. This means nothing till they are actually doing something with that money.
And, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't plankton little fish? They are telling me we are going to replace all the worlds oil production with little fish?
I think, they mean phytoplankton, not zooplankton.
Find better argument, please.
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:59 am Post subject: Re: Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton
peripato wrote:
A member of the forum (Omar) who was completing his doctorate on algal fuel production had this to say about it all. No doubt similar problems apply for related feedstocks like plankton too.
Maybe lipids producing GM bacterias are actually doing a trick.
Nowdays you can force bacteria to produce almost any organic chemicals, why not lipids?
Obviously all what Spanish company is doing might be just investor scam, but we shall see.
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:25 am Post subject: Re: Spanish firm claims it can make oil from plankton
EnergyUnlimited wrote:
Obviously all what Spanish company is doing might be just investor scam, but we shall see.
Yes, we shall see. But whenever I come across something like this that talks about "unlimited amounts of energy", or claims fantastical yields my bullshit detector goes into overdrive. Please understand I am not saying that biofuel production won't have some role to play in the future, if we play our cards right and don't Fark up which is the most likely possibility at this stage, just that it is inconceivable to think of it as a replacement for even a fraction of the oil even currently consumed.
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 4:12 am Post subject: Re: All plankton fuel posts
Woohoo! That's more like it! This thread's been Doomerized: renamed dismissively and slotted under an insulting 2-option poll with no room for unsure or subtle opinions. Yeah! The Doomers are not dead, just a little slow to react. Good Doomers, nice Doomers!
Joined: Apr 19, 2006 Posts: 198 Location: Australia
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:03 am Post subject: Re: All plankton fuel posts
I read something about "everything into oil", that is basically a way to transform any animal products into oil. It was being tested with whatever is left from chickens and other birds in slaughterhouses. However, this process requires a lot of energy to make it work. Looks like the plankton into oil lies in the same cathegory. It will still require large energy inputs to work, so, nothing new here. Nice would be to have some bacteria that could eat up our trash and leave a nice byproduct: OIL. OMG, I'm a genius! I must patent that!
I want FREE ENERGY!!! _________________ Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis
Joined: Sep 14, 2004 Posts: 6428 Location: Rural Virginia
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:08 am Post subject: Re: All plankton fuel posts
slick wrote:
Woohoo! That's more like it! This thread's been Doomerized: renamed dismissively and slotted under an insulting 2-option poll with no room for unsure or subtle opinions. Yeah! The Doomers are not dead, just a little slow to react. Good Doomers, nice Doomers!
Love this site.
Be reasonable, slick. In this case I agree with what the moderator(s) have done. The forum will survive longer than it otherwise would have, and it does make sense to unify the whole plankton mess in one vat.
People who are unsure can opt out of voting. _________________ "Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog
"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother
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