Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels in the United States.

摘要

The desire to develop energy sources that can provide greater environmental and security benefits has spurred research and investments in the development of alternatives to petroleum, the dominant source of liquid transportation fuels. Because of its high biomass (and oil productivity in some cases), algae and cyanobacteria (commonly referred to as blue-green algae) frequently have been considered a promising renewable feedstock for fuel production. We all were taught that petroleum and other fossil fuels formed on this planet from plant remains that were compressed for millions of years at high temperatures. It seems fitting that scientists would choose to study some of the most primitive life forms to develop large-scale biofuel replacements for such fossil fuels. Algae have been grown under a variety of conditions for the production of lipids and high-value products for several decades. Two factors that influenced the consideration of algal biofuel production in the past were the cost of a barrel of oil and the ability to cultivate algae and process them into transportation fuel at a reasonable cost. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) had a robust program to develop biofuels from algae from 1978 to 1996, when it was concluded that algal biofuel would not be cost competitive with petroleum soon. Fast forward to 2012, and with advances in genetics and engineering, we are back to the future in considering whether algae can be an economic and sustainable alternative source of liquid transportation fuels. Could it be that use of algae to produce biofuels is the answer to becoming less dependent on foreign oil.