Algae converted to crude oil in less than one hour



Scientists have managed to transform a small mixture of algae and water, and have remarkably turned the mixture into a kind of crude oil in less than an hour. The crude oil is suitable to be turned into burnable gases like jet fuel, gasoline or diesel.



http://www.digitaljournal.com/tech/s...article/365069



Pretty cool and I can see gas getting extremely cheap if it took off, but the oil companies and government would step in and say nope.

 

Gas companies will eventually have to take a back seat to science and technology, it's just a matter of time until the world can cut its ties to fossil fuels.

 

Once it is cheaper to produce and refine than other crude oils, this will become mainstream as long as it proves to be viable at large volumes.

 

wonder what byproducts will birth from this new crude?

 

This was how they made food and fuel in 2001: A space odyssey. I'm glad that it is becoming a reality now.

 

Reference the Law of Conservation of Energy. Any man-made energy source is going to use more energy to create than what it contains.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis

 

They're not using photosynthesis.

 

Cobra, I think the difference is that this converts potential energy in garbage, sewage, or whatever else into useful energy. Trees for example. They convert soil into trees. This doesn't take much energy from people even if they plant the trees vs. allowing them to naturally re-grow. There's no "free" energy here, the soil is converted. It takes very little human energy though. If the food for the bacteria is easy to provide and otherwise useless or even better, a waste product, this can be a very advantageous approach.



It effectively isn't man-made energy.

 

Actually trees take CO2 out of the air to make their bio mass. The soil only provides food such as N2, H2O, P with other trace minerals.



Cellulose is C6H10O5. And Nitrogen is the center molecule of chlorophyll.