Image credit: cleantechnica.com
We’ve added the red herring query to the original headline. Cost, and realistic scale, of production aren’t discussed here. It still ends with fuel-burning.
Produced from organic matter or waste, biofuels play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and are one of the largest sources of renewable energy in use today.
Most of Europe’s renewable transport target is currently met with land-based biofuels,
says TechXplore.
However, many of the feedstocks like corn and alfalfa used to produce such biofuels aren’t economically and environmentally sustainable.
Compared with fossil fuels, they do provide energy security and reduce air pollution.
But the fact remains that they lead to more intensive use of resources, reduced biodiversity and even higher GHG emissions through land use change.
As a result, for a number of years scientists have been looking to the ocean for other alternatives to fossil fuels.
One such alternative is macroalgae, more commonly known as seaweed. While scientists have recognized seaweed’s potential as a sustainable source for biofuels, scaling up production to industrial levels and maintaining environmental sustainability at the same time has proven difficult.
With this challenge in mind, scientists working on the EU-funded MacroFuels project have sought to prove that seaweed can be sustainably produced and used as a biofuel source.
After years of research, the project team has developed seaweed-based fuel that was recently tested in a real car test engine. Powered by this biofuel, the car reached speeds of up to 80 kph.
“We’ve looked to see if seaweed fuel works in the same way as ordinary fuel and what its effect is on the motor,” said researcher Dr. Jaap van Hal in a news item posted on the “Dutch News’ website. “This means that this fuel could be used for private cars in the future but seaweed fuel is also interesting for aviation and shipping.”
Why is seaweed so promising?
Seaweed cultivation has a number of advantages. For example, seaweed doesn’t need fresh water, arable land or fertilizers to grow.
Full report here.
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Reblogged this on Climate- Science.press.
World oil consumption is around 100 million barrels a day, and rising.
https://ycharts.com/indicators/world_oil_consumption
About 50% more than it was in 1990.
‘biofuels play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions’
Nah. Not really.
Never happen w/o artificial support. And increasing transit times using such a low energy density fuel will be accepted about the same as alcohol was. A century ago the same was tried with hemp. Ubiquitous plant and good fuel source, but it had its own problems. Stateside, mainly Federal interference.
The energy density of various fuel sources was looked at in depth during the first “fuel/oil shortage” and all of them were found wanting. A lot of users gave up propane, including myself, and CNG never really took hold except with inner city public transit.
Almost any organic material can be turned into a “biofuel” with a little bit of chemical ingenuity.
All of the problems remain unsolved: Is it cheap and abundant? Does its use replace something that is rare and expensive? Is there any reason to switch?
“Burning things” for energy is crude and creates things we don’t want: CO2, other air pollutants, ash or other leftovers.
With the recent approval (in the US) of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), it looks like we have a nuclear future for electricity production. This stealth technology advance, happening behind the scenes of Climate Hysteria will lead to a sane future for the electrical grid.
If we can push now for the development of a new universal battery — one that doesn’t require rare and expensive elements — we can have electric cars and all electric homes.
SMRs can also power electric ocean going ships.
Another pie in the sky project looking to feed the ‘green dream’.
Bio-fuels do not, as JB says, have the energy density of fossil fuels, nor do they have the green properties that they are supposed to have.
At best they are only a third rate fuel that might work on a nice warm day – just don’t try in cold weather, something like electric cars.
just more rent seekers playing at green posturing for cash. If they really wanted to do something useful they’d work on a coal gassification and coal-to-liquid process that generated cheap high energy fuel from the US’s coal stocks.
The bio fuel nonsense is bio dumb.
Car powered by Scottish seaweed completes 50-mile journey in Denmark
Scientists described the results of the test drive as ‘very promising’, with the two seaweed-based fuels behaving like conventional petrol
By Chris Green
Friday, 27th December 2019
Around four tonnes of seaweed cultivated by the Scottish Association for Marine Sciences (SAMS), located near Oban on the west coast, was used as the raw material for the project.
https://inews.co.uk/news/scotland/car-powered-by-scottish-seaweed-completes-50-mile-journey-in-denmark-1350123
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So a ton of seaweed = a litre of diesel?