Micros fuelling those giants in the sky!

One must be now tired of reading pages about the topics on alternative forms of energy. The same thing repeated again and again but with slight difference. Solar,wind ,bio gas and the list is endless.

But what makes this thing different is that we use the oil produced by the micro algae present in the seas as the fuel to run the vehicles.

But what really is a algae???

Algae are usually single celled organism. At about 70% of their body is made up of proteins and oils which prevents them from degrading in the water. We must have studied how we created a soap out of alcohol using simple mechanism called esterification. This method uses just the reverse process, technically called trans esterification. In this process we add alcohol to the oil to get our desired and our most valued renewable fuel. The micro algae can be grown in groups and can be cultivated. The protein from them can be extracted using suitable means in a similar way of that of the yeast.

How the whole idea works????

The algae produces the oil in the process of photosynthesis. This oil can be collected by using suitable means. This oil is then converted into suitable form of renewable fuel by adding three molecules of alcohol to the initial product. Then the used algae can again be allowed to grow in the water. This whole process repeats again and again thus making it eco friendly and renewable form of energy.

Advantages:

• This method is one of the most economical methods and also a renewable source of fuel.
• They can be easily cultivated in any type of water body. There is no need of fresh water alone.
• Production capacity from the algae is also very high.
• Apart from producing alternate source of energy, it also absorbs the CO2 in the air and releases oxygen during photosynthesis. In this process it also acts as the CO2 trap.

Disadvantages :

• The total production depends on the water in which it is cultivated and the amount of solar energy it receives.
• It can be done in large scale only in the coastal areas where there is a availability of deep shores and sea beds.
• The area required for the cultivation is very large so that we can extract appreciable amoun tof oil from it.

An article by

K.C.Shyam

A Student @ VIT University