Eco Factor: Direct ethanol production technology substantially reduces carbon footprint.
A team from Algenol and Georgia Tech are working on developing ethanol based bio fuel from algae in photo bioreactors connected to fossil fuel power plants. According to the results of this research which were recently published in an open access paper in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology the ethanol production process causes 67% to 87% reduction in carbon footprint.
The process uses a culture medium that comprises of cyanobacteria grown in flexible-film polyethylene-based photo bioreactors containing seawater or brackish water. To support efficient algal growth the bio reactor is located near a fossil-fuel power plant to ensure sufficient supply of CO2. The use of industrial CO2 in the direct ethanol technology causes 67% to 87% reduction in carbon footprint on an energy equivalent basis for initial ethanol concentrations ranging from 0.5% to 5%.
Via: TreeHugger
