Algae Biofuel

04-03-15 | Industry News & Events

How this underwater plant could potentially fuel our everyday lives.

Discover the benefits of using environmentally friendly algae biofuel in the below video from the United States Department of Energy.

As suggested by the United States Department of Energy, when you think of algae, it’s unlikely that the idea of fuel and energy comes to mind. Rather, algae is most often associated with large bodies of water and other aquatic plant life, such as seaweed. As a result, viewing algae as a source of fuel is currently a rather foreign concept to many people. The U.S. Department of Energy, however, is hoping to change that by broadening people’s understanding of the energy potential of algae with the below instalment of their educational energy series, Energy 101.

As part of the Energy 101 series, Energy 101: Algae-to-Fuel, describes everything from algae farms, known as raceways, which can cultivate a new crop of algae every few weeks, to how algae can be made into an oil that can then be converted into biofuel. The video even details the process that takes place in order to do so. Algae-to-Fuel also explains that, in the future, any machine that currently runs on gasoline or diesel, could theoretically be powered by algae biofuel. As you can imagine, this would be a positive advancement for the environment due to the fact that algae biofuel would be, according to the video, “a nearly carbon-neutral fuel source.”

For more information, watch the entire video below!