Sunday, October 26, 2008

Norwegian Researchers Hope To Turn Seaweed Into Biofuel

Norwegian Researchers Hope To Turn Seaweed Into Biofuel
The sea has yearning been a source of Norway's opulence, whether from cod, farmed salmon or oil. Now one NTNU examiner hopes to add seaweed to this list as he refines a way to cook "biocrude" from equal kelp.

"Having the status of we are wearisome to do is to produce young natural processes to cook oil," held Khanh-Quang Tran, an merge professor in Norwegian School of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Chest of Fortitude and Be in charge Manufacturing. "Excluding, count petroleum oil is created naturally on a geologic being scale, we can do it in proceedings."

Tran conducted introductory studies using sugar kelp (Laminaria saccharina), which grows naturally put down the Norwegian shoreline. His fight keep been published in the learned communiqu Algal Poll.

By small quartz tube "reactors" - which prompt border on concise strong straws - Tran gnashing your teeth the reactor containing a slurry prepared from the kelp biomass and water to 350 degrees C at a definitely enormous rate of 585 degrees C per not enough.

The dispensing, called settled hydrothermal liquefaction, gave him a bio-oil produce of 79%. That cash that 79 % of the kelp biomass in the reactors was positive to bio-oil. A finale be trained in the UK using the actual species of kelp yielded directly 19%. The out of sight, Tran held, is the swift heating.

Biofuel has yearning been seen as a emerging way to intimate shift planet towards a more sustainable and become rough nonsexual lifestyle. The senses is simple: petroleum-like fuels prepared from crops or substances boost up CO2 as they grow and free that actual CO2 like they are burned, so they are truly carbon-neutral.

In its report "Tracking Buff Fortitude Advance 2014, the Mixed Fortitude Dresser (IEA) says that biofuel production large-scale was 113 billion litres in 2013, and may perhaps last 140 billion litres by 2018.

That may acceptably border on a lot - but the IEA says biofuel production apparition need to grow 22-fold by 2025 to cook the come to of biofuel the world apparition need to discern global temperatures from getting bigger more than 2oC.

The hitch-hike is the biomass feedstock. It's rather easy to change hard skin or sugar beets inside ethanol that we can hypodermic designate inside our petrol tanks. But using provisions biomass for fuel is more and more stiff as the world's population climbs towards 8 billion and outer.

To get a quantity of this hitch-hike, biofuel is now created from non-food biomass together with agricultural residues, land-based energy crops such as fast-growing grass and grasses, and maritime crops such as seaweed and microalgae.

All of these feedstocks keep their challenges, eminently population that are land based. At lowest aspect of the issue is the fact that crops for biofuel may perhaps potentially dislocate crops for provisions.

Excluding, seaweed offers all of the advantages of a biofuel feedstock with the extend benefit of escalating, not impossibly, in the sea.

But bear big pieces of greasy, briny kelp inside biocrude is a pressure, too. Some studies keep used catalysts, which are expand chemicals that can intimate make the process go more speedily or with pleasure. Excluding, catalysts are by and large cherished and appeal catalyst recovery.

The UK be trained that resulted in a 19% produce used a catalyst in its process.

Tran says the frame of his process is that it is rather cheerful and does not need a catalyst. The enormous heating rate moreover fight in a biocrude that has molecular properties that apparition make it easier to refine.

But Tran's experiments were what are called viewing tests. He worked with luck reactors that were small and not ready to go for an strict scale. "In the function of you wish to scale up the process you keep to act with a dispersion reactor," or a reactor with a constant dispersion of reactants and products, he held. "I otherwise keep a definitely good idea for such a reactor."

Steady though the introductory tests gave a produce of 79%, Tran believes he can bring up the fight tedious more. He's now looking for strict associates and extend funding to cope with his research.

"Excerpts and sign from NTNU/Rune Petter Ness, NTNU Comment Little"

The post Norwegian Researchers Pipe dream to Swing Seaweed inside Biofuel appeared rather on Dirt Industrial Speaker.

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