Making ethanol from algae is getting some national media attention lately, with one story making it an industry controversy and another already denigrating a process that is still in the research stage.
The NYT Greenwire blog headline reads “Ethanol Producers Warily Eye Algae’s Bloom” and has ethanol producers “being a little defensive” over the idea that fuel can be made from pond scum. CNN calls it “Green Goo Biofuel” and happily spreads the notion that algae fuel “still creates pollution when burned, like regular fuel.”
Both articles seem to confuse the use of algae to make biodiesel, which is relatively easy and is being done by several companies, or a next generation ethanol-type fuel - which companies such as Algenol Biofuels are working to perfect. Algenol has partnered with Dow Chemical, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Georgia Tech on technology that uses CO2, salt water, sunlight and non-arable land to produce ethanol.
Whether it will work commercially remains to be seen, but as Matt Hartwig with the Renewable Fuels Association points out in the NYT article, ethanol is paving the way for newer technologies and there’s plenty of room for everyone.
“We’re not talking about an industry left in dust, but rather evolving and becoming part of the solution,” Hartwig said. “We’re going to need it all. This isn’t a situation where we need to rob Peter to pay Paul. We should expand research and development for all technologies to really achieve our goals of energy security.”
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