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By Geoff Filipiak on March 2, 2011
Filed in Sci Tech

A researcher holds strands of fibers that carry carbon dioxide to the algae which is fermented and converted into fuel. Credit to Science Daily.

From Science Daily

Ethanol may be history as researchers find a new way to wean the world off of fossil fuels.

Engineers at the University Of Arkansas have found a way to use byproducts made by algae to make butanol to fuel cars and help cleanse the environment of fertilizer byproducts.

“We can make cars go,” said Jamie Hestekin, leader of the project. “Our conversion process is efficient and inexpensive. Butanol has many advantages compared to ethanol, but the coolest thing about this process is that we’re actually making rivers and lakes healthier by growing and harvesting the raw material.”

His team runs fertilizer rich water runoff from farms over troughs filled with algae. Then they scrape off the algae after a couple of days, dry it out, turn it into a dust, and then ferment the dust which makes butanol which can be used to fuel cars.

The whole process is more efficient than producing ethanol which is made from corn and drives up the price of food.

In addition, the process can be done anywhere and doesn’t take up lots of land.

As long as people don’t start consuming large amounts of green slime, this could be the wave of the future.