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2008-05-19 Science & Technology

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Posted by mhw 2008-05-19 10:27|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 the earlier article

Posted by mhw 2008-05-19 11:40|| 2008-05-19 11:40|| Front Page Top

#2 I think he's been watching too much SpongeBob.

Posted by Jitch, Scourge of the Veal Cutlets 2008-05-19 13:14|| 2008-05-19 13:14|| Front Page Top

#3 and an article from a Fortune Magazine reporter here (it notes some engineering & scaling & management problems the company had in 2007)

Posted by mhw 2008-05-19 14:18|| 2008-05-19 14:18|| Front Page Top

#4 Dr. Berzin has a lovely sense of humour: belly dancers and cute wavy mustaches!

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-05-19 15:46|| 2008-05-19 15:46|| Front Page Top

#5 I see algae farming as a situation of using optimums to produce a product.

You want to achieve maximum algae growth, harvesting and processing. Production needs to be year around.

You need the best water temperature and circulation, mix of gases, light bandwidth exposure--natural or artificial, and continual harvesting and processing of algae oil with sodium hydroxide and alcohol to produce biodiesel, with the remainder made into animal fodder.

That being said, you want to do it at the lowest cost.

Perhaps the best model is the use of "self-cleaning glass" pipes, lined with nanoparticles that prevent adhesion. The pipes have rudders in them that make the water turn in a spiral pattern as it flows.

This serves the dual function of evenly distributing the light through the water and keeping the CO2 and NOx gases dissolved to feed the algae. At intervals, the algae water reaches areas with slow current, where much of the algae is filtered out and sent for processing.

After the last filtration, the water is purified for re-use, likely also with nanotechnology filters, and the water is cooled or heated as need be.

Posted by Anonymoose 2008-05-19 17:51|| 2008-05-19 17:51|| Front Page Top

#6 Perhaps, but nan0-fusion will require much less bio-mass and leak almost zero CO2 into the atmosphere. The modularity of nan0-fusion will make it possible to build power plants into areas as small as a large condo.

Posted by George Smiley 2008-05-19 19:45|| 2008-05-19 19:45|| Front Page Top

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