Will Pond Scum Save Airlines? Ass’n Exec Says Carriers’ Studies Show Algae ‘Strong’ Fuel Candidate (Pt. 1 of 2)
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
They aren’t talking publicly about it for competitive reasons, but commercial airlines’ internal analyses have determined that algae is a “strong candidate” to displace jet fuel.
That’s according to Thomas Byrne of the Algal Biomass Organization (ABO), a not-for-profit group dedicated to developing commercial markets for microalgae biomass, the kind observable only with a microscope.
Byrne told EnergyTechStocks.com that in just a “quick blip,” the microalgae industry should be ready to deliver bio-oil costing the equivalent of only $40 to $50 a barrel of crude for both airlines and motor vehicles. He quickly added that what is a “quick blip” in terms of industry development – namely, five years – may look to besieged airlines and motorists like an eternity.
Byrne said it’s too early for investors to pick corporate winners from among the more than a dozen algae start-ups racing to develop this alternative fuel source. Interesting, Byrne implied that oil refiners may also be winners, which runs contrary to the public perception of biofuel posing a challenge to Big Oil’s dominance of transportation fuels.
Byrne said he expects the microalgae industry to take off “when the Exxons step in and say we can do this.” In other words, Byrne anticipates microalgae being added to oil refiners’ existing refining and distribution networks, which presumably would fatten many refiners’ profit margins because they could reduce their market purchases of crude oil.
Byrne added that the “bioreactors” expected to cost-effectively turn microalgae into jet fuel, biodiesel and biogasoline are still in the design stage, but that eventually they should be located throughout the United States, hooking up to existing petroleum distribution networks.
