Algae for Biodiesel 101  

Algae into biodiesel have been a widely discussed concept among many scientists and environmentalists worldwide. As he oil prices continues to soar, we are forced to search for more reliable sources of energy rather than depending on those fast depleting natural resources. Oil reserves are dying up and never has there been a time in the history of mankind where there is a desperate and urgent need for a source of renewable energy that is both low in cost and environmentally friendly. This makes biodiesel fuel production from algae as renewable energy extremely exciting. 

There are many sources of raw materials that we can use as biofuel.  Biofuel actually refers to any kind of substance that makes use of biological elements which includes all plant and animal sources.  The oil extracted from these sources are turned into fuel hence the name biofuel. But getting oil from these biological sources isn’t anything like getting juice out of oranges. They involved a two step process, the first being the extraction processes and next comes the chemical reaction process which turns that natural oil into biofuel. Biodiesel from algae oils works exactly the same way.  

There are many types of elements or plant oils that can be turned into algae for biodiesel. The biodiesel industry have been using corn oil and pal oil for making biodiesel in he past few years,.  While this is a very exciting possibility, there has been an increase in the price of world food, which causes a stir of uneasiness from those within the food industry in the fear of worldwide famine! When food sources is been turned into oil, there would naturally a drop in the supply of food, which adds to the existing problem of famine among poor countries.  

So would possible be the best solution to this problem?  Fortunately, scientist have stumbled upon one very amazing plant that can be harvested and used in the production of biodiesel- it’s the algae and here’s exactly why we should look more into this amazing plants that may hold the key for our energy future. 

Companies are quick to look into the possibility of becoming the next oil tycoon by cultivating and harvesting this tiny plants that is fortunately for all, extremely easy to culture and grow. Research are now on now looking into hundreds and thousands of algae species to find one that has the most potential to be cultivated for the production of biodiesel from algae oils. The species of algae into biodiesel would be the on with softer membrane walls so the process of pressing hem for lipids can be done easily without the hassles of additional chemicals to break the cellular structures.  We need soft bodied algae that can give us the highest concentration of lipid possible to make algae biodiesel. 

.  

At the moment, the best algae strains for biodiesel are those that can be used for converting algae to biodiesel