Oct 14, 2006

Biofuel made from power plant CO2

GreenFuel has so far received more than $18 million in venture capital funding, and hopes to install a full-scale algal farm at least 1 kilometre square near the Redhawk plant by 2009. Berzin calculates that if the farm has enough algae to absorb all the CO2 produced by the 1000-megawatt plant, GreenFuel could ultimately produce more than 150 million litres of biodiesel and 190 million litres of ethanol a year. To do this, it would need a farm of between 8 and 16 square kilometres. (...) "Using technology based mainly on GreenFuel, we can mitigate 50,000 tonnes of CO2 per square kilometre per year," he says. Building a 1-square-kilometre facility would cost approximately $20 million, he estimates, but the payoffs would be equally large. "I think we are close to the point where we can gain $5 to $10 million a year by selling the fuel."  » original news