Algae Turns Green House Gas Into Fuel

The minds at GreenFuel Technologies have come up with an interesting solution to CO2 emissions. They call it E2B or "emissions to biofuels". The process depends on a unique Bioreactor. Esentialy, a bioreactor is a container of small organisms, in this case algae, which carries out a chemical process. Bioreactors aren't new, but this particular design and use for them is. GreenFuel has devised a method to connect a large volume bioreactor directly to the smoke stacks of fossil fuel burning power plants. The CO2 is pumped out of the plant and into the waiting algae tanks. In the presence of light, the algae consumes the carbon dioxide to use for energy. Just like your typical house plant, but on an industrial scale. The newly energized algae can then be harvested and turned into ethanol, biodiesel, methane, or solid fuel. GreenFuel estimates that for every two tons of algae you can absorb one ton of CO2 gas.

This is a win/win situation for our fossil fuel power plants. Fossil fuel plants give off nearly 40% of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. If this process is scalable to the entire country, it would mean the removal of billions of tons of CO2, and also a great boon to our fuel supply. Power plants will reduce or even eliminate their green house gas emissions. They cound trade them in for useful and clean fuels. This would generate additional income from the selling off of biodiesel, and they could trade on their emissions credits and get tax subsidies. Factories would become cleaner, leaner and more profitable.

Last month GreenFuel finished raising over $18 million in capital, and now they are putting their tested theories into commercial practice. The state of New York, NRG Energy, and GreenFuel will be working together to install a working prototype of the E2B bioreactor at one of NRG's plants in Dunkirk, NY. The bioreactors are designed to be able to be retrofitted to existing plants with minimal effort and expenditure. The test program will continue through the end of the year. And if it is successful, more roll outs will follow. Soon more of our smoke stacks will start trading in CO2 for gas and cash. That's a solution that is all kinds of green. [via MSNBC]


"Every problem contains within itself the seeds of its own solution.” - Stanley Arnold