Algae-based Fuel, Bio-Diesel

...for aircraft (and boats?)

I was just recently looking thru the May 2012 issue of Popular Science and found an interesting discussion on some of China's enviromental impact in this new energy world. Apparently Boeing company has been working with China in relation to the aircraft industry to develop bio-fuels that can be used in the engines of their very significantly growing airline industry. I've scanned the article here, and posted a few excerpts:

"When an engine burns fuel from algae, it emits CO2, just as if it were burning fuel pumped straight from the Persian Gulf. BUT, the algae would have removed at least as much CO2 from the atmosphere while it was growing. So in principle, and with allowances for inefficiences and fuel costs in the production process, algae-based fuel could allow airplanes to fly on something much closer to a 'carbon-neutral' basis."

"By process of elimination, these criteria have led mainly to algae (biofuels). In principle it can produce 5 to 10 times as much fuel per acre of surface area as oil palms, soybeans, corn, or other crops that can be used for biofuels. It grows and produces the oil many times as fast as more complex plants,...and the algae crop cycle is a matter of days rather than weeks or months."


...and here is the quote that surprised me !!
"It can be grown on land that is otherwise too barren or unusable, and in water that is too polluted or brackish for any other human or agricultural purpose. The world's entire avaition fuel needs could be taken care of by algae facilities the size of Belgium."