Can an algae-to-biodiesel facility help meet Mauis needs?
by Rob Parsons Published in Maui Time Weekly September 11, 2008 The idea of replacing fossil fuel consumption with biofuels has been a much-ballyhooed topic of late, both globally and in Hawaii. Initial enthusiasm has since been tempered with realities of costs, including ongoing debates over converting food crops to fuel and converting farm lands and rainforests to agri-fuel plantations. Throughout the discussions of plant-based biodiesel and ethanol, there has been a consistent optimism that the best biofuel choice-someday, when science and technology solve existing hurdles-could be miacroalgae. That’s right-pond scum, lurking like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, could be the answer to Peak Oil. It may be useful to consider that all the crude oil currently under the ground, being extracted and consumed worldwide at a rate of 85 million gallons daily, was once microalgae and diatoms that were pressurized-“cooked”-and converted under geologic conditions over eons to produce the goo
