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Iran started investigating the production of algae from 2000. Scientific evidence shows that south Iran is the richest area in the world for cultivating algae, because of high humidity, sunny weather, large unused area and salty water. [2] The first version of algae based biofuel will become available for industrial purposes in 2015. [3]
Algae can be converted into various types of fuels, depending on the production technologies and the part of the cells used. The lipid, or oily part of the algae biomass can be extracted and converted into biodiesel through a process similar to that used for any other vegetable oil, or converted in a refinery into "drop-in" replacements for petroleum-based fuels.
Since growing algae requires large amounts of sterile CO 2, smokestacks can be utilized for algaculture. Several commercial pilot plants are under construction. [39] [40] [41] There is substantial research and development work in this area but as of 2007 there is no commercial vegetable oil produced from algae and used as biofuel.
BETO organized an Algae Program dedicated to researching and improving the viability of algae as an energy source. EERE's official page for the Algae Program lists goals including improving yields of algae strains while decreasing expenses of growing algae, filtering the algae from the water, extracting the oils, and processing the biofuel. [3]
Some algae can grow faster under mixotrophic conditions rather than under photoautotrophic conditions. Under mixotrophic conditions, both light and a carbon substrate such as sugars can provide energy for cell growth. Although adding glucose increased the growth rate of the algal culture, it also adds extra cost to algal lipid production.
The algae, especially some species which contain over 50 percent oil and a lot of carbohydrates, can be used for producing biodiesel and bioethanol by extracting and refining the fractions. The algae biomass is generated 30 times faster than some agricultural biomass, [15] which is commonly used for producing biodiesel.
In 2007, biodiesel production capacity was growing rapidly, with an average annual growth rate from 2002 to 2006 of over 40%. [81] For the year 2006, the latest for which actual production figures could be obtained, total world biodiesel production was about 5–6 million tonnes, with 4.9 million tonnes processed in Europe (of which 2.7 million ...
The following table shows the vegetable oil yields of common energy crops associated with biodiesel production. Included is growing zone data, relevant to farmers and agricultural scientists. This is unrelated to ethanol production, which relies on starch, sugar and cellulose content instead of oil yields.