BIOFUEL experts have long sought a more economically-viable way to turn algae into biocrude oil to power vehicles, ships and even jets. University of Utah researchers believe they have found an answer. They have developed an unusually rapid method to deliver cost-effective algal biocrude in large quantities using a specially-designed jet mixer.
A team of University of Utah chemical engineers have developed a new kind of jet mixer that extracts the lipids with much less energy than the older extraction method, a key discovery that now puts this form of energy closer to becoming a viable, cost-effective alternative fuel. The new mixer is fast, too, extracting lipids in seconds.
The team’s results were published in a new peer-reviewed journal, Chemical Engineering Science X. The article, “Algal Lipid Extraction Using Confined Impinging Jet Mixers,” can be downloaded here.
“The key piece here is trying to get energy parity. We’re not there yet, but this is a really important step toward accomplishing it,” says Dr Leonard Pease, a co-author of the paper.
