NASA Wants to Launch Floating Algae Farms

[xchrom]

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/40120/?p1=A1


Bio bags: A prototype algae plant for making biofuels.
NASA

Next week, NASA will show off some of its latest technology: a system for growing algae in floating plastic bags. The system is the result of a $10 million, two-year project that investigated whether the algae could be used to make biofuels, including jet fuel.

The system is designed to reduce the cost of making fuel from algae by making it possible to put algae farms near wastewater facilities, which offer a large source of nutrients.

But it may prove difficult to implement. For one thing, it will require a lot of plastic. In one possible setup, five square kilometers of plastic bags would be used to produce 2.4 million gallons of algae oil per year—a drop in the bucket compared to the 800 million gallons of oil the U.S. consumes every day. And the bags will likely need to be replaced every year.

The setup has been tested in four nine-meter-long plastic bags at a wastewater plant near San Francisco. The researchers demonstrated that they can grow enough algae to produce nearly 2,000 gallons of fuel per acre per year—if the weather cooperates. So if a commercial system gets built, it may need to be in someplace warmer and sunnier.

[gordianot]

1. Good to know they are doing something since they no longer do manned space flight.

[bananas]

2. Darn it, I thought you meant launch them into space. nt

[saras]

3. They're not launching things nearly as high as they used to...

If they were green and not NASA, they'd figure out how to do it with plastic grocery bags. Two problems solved at once.

[babydollhead]

4. like how you think

better get some entreprenurial environmentalists on the case right away know any?

[Motown_Johnny]

5. can those plastic bags be recycled and then reused?

I'm all for it. We need to start somewhere and even though 2.4 million gallons a year isn't much, compared to our consumption, it would be a first step.

Once it is up and running the process can be made more efficient, but we need to get up and running first.