Sure Fred I am not ignoring this wonderful emission lowering scheme, but we also need a solution to recapture what's already been dumped into the atmosphere, that's the challenge. However I have no doubt some inspiration can be gotten from this scheme, e.g. bubbling to increase CO2 dissolution. Spraying the phytoplancton laden seawater could achieve the same result maybe?
Michel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frederick Sparber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 1:39 PM Subject: Re: [Vo]: Re: The $25 Million Branson Climate Prize > Michel Jullian wrote: >> >> Fresh water expanses offer less surface area than oceans obviously, and > the minerals they contain couldn't be depleted indefinitely as they are > needed to grow food. >> >> As for methanization we would have to make sure the absorbed carbon > doesn't leak back to the atmosphere as a worse GHG than CO2! >> >> Michel >> > Don't ignore the MIT Algae Farms from Power Plant Stack Emissions, for > sequestering CO2- too, Michel. > > CO2-too sounds like the little engine that could. :-) > > http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-01-10-algae-powerplants_x.htm > > "Fed a generous helping of CO2-laden emissions, courtesy of the power > plant's exhaust stack, the algae grow quickly even in the wan rays of a New > England sun. The cleansed exhaust bubbles skyward, but with 40% less CO2 (a > larger cut than the Kyoto treaty mandates) and another bonus: 86% less > nitrous oxide." > > "After the CO2 is soaked up like a sponge, the algae is harvested daily. >>From that harvest, a combustible vegetable oil is squeezed out: biodiesel > for automobiles. Berzin hands a visitor two vials - one with algal > biodiesel, a clear, slightly yellowish liquid, the other with the dried > green flakes that remained. Even that dried remnant can be further > reprocessed to create ethanol, also used for transportation." > > "One key is selecting an algae with a high oil density - about 50% of its > weight. Because this kind of algae also grows so fast, it can produce > 15,000 gallons of biodiesel per acre. Just 60 gallons are produced from > soybeans, which along with corn are the major biodiesel crops today." > > "For his part, Berzin calculates that just one 1,000 megawatt power plant > using his system could produce more than 40 million gallons of biodiesel > and 50 million gallons of ethanol a year. That would require a 2,000-acre > "farm" of algae-filled tubes near the power plant. There are nearly 1,000 > power plants nationwide with enough space nearby for a few hundred to a few > thousand acres to grow algae and make a good profit, he says." > > Fred > >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Frederick Sparber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: <vortex-l@eskimo.com> >> Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 12:32 PM >> Subject: Re: [Vo]: Re: The $25 Million Branson Climate Prize >> >> >> > Michel Jullian wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> Floating microalgae ponds indeed Fred, but seas and oceans might be a >> > better bet than fresh water surfaces, because of higher mineral contents >> > and available surface area. That's what I proposed in earlier threads >> > concerning biodiesel. Part or all of the production could be > transformed in >> > BD, and the rest if any could be dumped/sequestered in a less refined > form >> > maybe (would have to be a non-rotting form). >> >> >> > Judging from the"Algae Bloom" on Lake Mead a few years ago, and the > bloom >> > that >> > Jones Beene pulled up on Google where the Colorado river dumps into >> > the Gulf of California, any major river can be used for floating sieve >> > algae farms >> > plenty of natural nitrates in rivers and lakes (and groundwater too, >> > judging from >> > how fast algae form in livestock watering tanks from wells over 100 feet >> > deep). >> > >> > The rotting algae "husks" are starch-cellulosic and ferment to methane, >> > hence an abandoned coal mine >> > filled with algae becomes an oil and gas well, Michel. >> > >> > Fred >> >> >> >> The production would be transported to land for fuel or sequestration >> > using either underwater pipelines or supertankers collecting it from > farm >> > to farm. >> >> >> >> Alternatively we could exploit the natural algae fields in the oceans >> > with supertankers which would also do the harvesting and processing to > BD, >> > if it turned out to be cheaper. >> >> >> >> In any case photosynthesis + sequestering does seem to be the best bet > to >> > absorb excess atmospheric CO2, and I suspect that doing the > photosynthesis >> > part at sea would be the only way to do it on a sufficiently large > scale. >> > All that's left to work out now is the practical details, come on guys >> > shall we run collectively for the Branson prize and solve the world's >> > energy problems at the same time? :) >> >> >> >> Michel >> >> >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> >> From: "Frederick Sparber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> >> To: "vortex-l" <vortex-l@eskimo.com> >> >> Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 10:41 AM >> >> Subject: Re: [Vo]: Re: The $25 Million Branson Climate Prize >> >> >> >> >> >> > Thomas Malloy suggested "algae ponds in the southwest desert". >> >> > >> >> > I suggest floating filters-sieves as algae ponds on streams, rivers, >> > and lakes, >> >> > and Blanton's swimming pool, where the water passes through and the >> > algae >> >> > are contained in them for harvesting for dumping into abandoned coal >> > mines for sequestering. >> >> > >> >> > Thomas Malloy's leaky canoe comes to mind as a demonstration. :-) >> >> > >> >> > Fred >> > >> > >> > > > >
