Indeed Vorts we can do better than this: zero ship time! We already found how to seed/fertilize directly from land (e.g. from the Azores, cf quoted post below).
But _even harvesting_ could be done without any ship: we could install a fixed harvesting robot, or cluster of harvesting robots, at the Eye (where the crop converges automagically by vortical effect, remember?), connected to an underwater Sea Line (not necessarily resting on the deep ocean bottom: with an ad hoc anchoring scheme it could be arranged to float in midwater say at 100m depth to save on total length) which would convey the harvest, whether raw or pre-processed of fully processed to biofuel, to the nearest land (e.g. Bermuda). Michel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michel Jullian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 12:46 AM Subject: [Vo]:Re: Eye of the Gyre I wrote: > We seed the appropriate algae species directly off an island coast somewhere > upstream > e.g. in Azores, the field widens by diffusion and grows while it gyres > clockwise in > subtropical temperatures and insolation, and it concentrates again by > vortical effect in > the eye of the gyre SE of Bermuda a few hundred days later for harvesting... > plausible? It turns out we are not the first to tread this wet path of cultivating sargassum in the Sargasso Sea, or other Gyre, for biofuel. A Google search on biofuel and sargassum reveals, among ~1000 hits, this nice recently published patent application: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20080057177.html?highlight=20080057177&stemming=on which covers most of our concepts, but not all, e.g. not the above scenario of remote seeding and automagic expansion/reconcentration of the growing surface, which I think allows better use of resources and higher production than seeding where you harvest as he suggests. Excerpt: "This indicates the possibility that the Sargasso Sea project could supply about 74% of the U.S. annual demand for oil and biofuel components." Come on Vorts, can't we do better than this? Michel Quote: <<... DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The production of biofuel from the fertilization of the ocean surface would greatly increase the biofuels available to the U.S., reducing the nation's reliance on imported crude oil. In order to do this economically the biomass created must be suitable for efficient harvest. The phytoplankton normally produced by ocean fertilization (see referenced patents) are so small, 1-20 ηm diameter, that they cannot be separated from the water in large tonnages efficiently. Therefore a larger biomass plant must be grown such as seaweed. Seaweeds, like larger terrestrial plants are usually anchored to the ground with hold-fast root systems. This protects them from drifting with the currents to less hospitable areas such as sandy beaches and rocky shores. The Sargasso Sea weed is unique in that it is not anchored by roots and can drift with the currents. However, the currents must be such that they keep the Sargassum weed confined to an enclosed sea away from shore with minimum leakage. The Sargasso Sea, with an area of about 2,000,000 sq mi has no continental shores and has a low leakage rate for the enclosed Sargassum weeds. There may be other areas of the world's oceans that also have suitable long residence time for floating seaweeds and/or other plant life in the water that will be revealed by further study. The Sargassum weed grows in an area of the North Atlantic bounded by the Gulf Stream on the west. The Corriolis force turns this current to the east where the force further turns it to the south off the coast of Europe. This current then turns to the west across the south Atlantic to join the Gulf Stream, completing the entrapment of the North Atlantic Ocean water that forms the Sargasso Sea. The Sargassum weed is the same family of seaweed that grows along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean but has lost its ability to grow roots, allowing it to float with the current and form mats on the ocean surface. The current curves to the right as it circulates slowly moving to the center of the Sargasso Sea where it forms a low hump and slowly sinks through the thermocline. The long-lived weed soon uses up the fertilizing elements in the surface water restricting its growth. However, the weed has developed the ability to use up the iron that is blown into the Sargasso Sea as dust from the Sahara Desert in Africa and also uses up the dissolved phosphate in the water. The weed then uses the refactory organic phosphate to maintain growth while recycling the iron as chlorophyll. The addition of soluble iron as lignin acid sulphonate and the addition of soluble ammonium phosphate should increase the growth rate of the Sargassum weed by 10 to 100 times. The ambient nitrogen-fixing phytoplankton in the area should be able to satisfy the nitrate required but if this is found not to be the case additional nitrogen fixers, such as Trichodesmium can be added to maintain growth. There are few fish in the Sargasso Sea, only a few small crabs and crustaceans in the Sargassum weed. The maximum growth rate of the Sargassum weed attainable with fertilization is not accurately known. Other species of brown algae are fast growers, as fast as high-yield agricultural plants such as beans and grains. On land we grow sugar cane, which produces about 25,000 tons of biomass per sq mi per year. We estimate that in the Sargasso Sea we could produce as much as 10,000 tons of biomass per sq mi per year of which 5,000 tons could be converted into biofuel components. The Sargasso Sea is about 2000 miles long, east to west, and 1000 miles north to south, for a total area of about 2,000,000 sq mi. If we could fertilize 20% of this we would have 400,000 sq mi. This area, with a 50% conversion rate, times 5000 tons per sq mi per year gives a total of about 1,000,000,000 tons of biofuel per year. At 350 lbs per barrel (5.7 barrels/ton) this gives 5,700,000,000 barrels per year of biofuel. The current U.S. crude consumption is about 7,700,000,000 barrels/year and the world demand is about 31,000,000,000 barrels/year. This indicates the possibility that the Sargasso Sea project could supply about 74% of the U.S. annual demand for oil and biofuel components. The Sargassum weed, itself, as well as by-products of the biofuel component processing could also be used for cattle fodder and other purposes. There may be other ocean areas that can also be brought into production and there may be many difficulties to bringing about the indicated production. Perhaps the greatest difficulty is the institution of private property rights in the open ocean far from land. This is required if the investment of fertilization can result in the harvesting of the Sargassum weed as required for a robust long-term commercialization of this fuel source. The long term advantage to the U.S. and the world, which will gain from the lowering of the CO 2 concentration of the atmosphere by the application of this technology, will provide the necessary impetus for the privatization of the open ocean required. This can be done by maintaining the free access now enjoyed but restricting the harvesting of the Sargassum weed for the production of biofuels produced by fertilization. Should it be determined that a significant portion of the biomass produced cannot be harvested but is sequestered in the deep ocean as described in the referenced patents, then measurements of the amount of CO 2 sequestered can be made and carbon sequestration credits can be claimed as covered by those patents. Likewise, if fish are caught inadvertently by the harvesting operation, any commercialization of their biomass can be claimed by the holders of the referenced patents for increased fish production. Each of these inadvertent results is expected to be small. The cost of fertilization is expected to be low resulting in the increased production of biomass in the fertilized area, which is equal to the harvested biomass plus the increase in biomass left behind after the harvest The total biomass is expected to be about 2×10 9 tons/yr (about 1.2×10 9 tons C). This will require about 1.3×10 6 tons/yr of chelated iron (at 12% Fe) and about 25×10 6 tons of ammonium phosphate per year. Note that the Redfield ratios are increased by about a factor of 8 for phosphate and a factor of 4 for iron. As noted, extra iron and phosphorous will be added to assure continued growth of the Sargassum weed after the harvesting. These estimates of return from fertilizing will be changed by measurements at the site and the amounts measured there. They do, however, give an indication of the capacity of the Sargasso Sea and perhaps other ocean gyres to produce biomass for biofuel production. The other costs include the ship time for the spreading of the fertilizers and the harvesting of the biomass, the processing of the biomass to biofuel components, the blending to obtain fuels for internal combustion engines (such as bio diesel) and the sale of these fuel blends. The cost of these activities is small in comparison with the expected value of 5.7×10 9 barrels of biofuel, which, at $42/barrel, should be worth $240×10 9 per year. >>
