Community | March 01, 2011 | 26 comments

Scientists making diesel with sun, water, CO2

source: http://news.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/2011_0228hub_firm_hopes_to_shine_with_die...

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Schnookums
Joule Unlimited claims its genetically engineered microorganism can secrete pure diesel that’s interchangeable with the fuel that goes into trucks.

CEO Bill Sims calls Joule — 22nd on Biofuels Digest’s “50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy” list in December — a “transformational” company. That’s because its microorganism, known as cyanobacteria, doesn’t need biomass feedstock such as corn, grass or algae.

“All of that takes time and energy,” said Sims, noting that Joule’s technology produces more power than the fossil energy that it consumes. “We’re not aware of any biofuel that can make that claim.”

Read more at:
http://news.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/2011_0228hub_firm_hopes_to_sh...&position=also

For Nerds, Full academic paper at:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/j1414q2u5w25h788/fulltext.html
  1. groups:
    Community,   Green,   Business News & Analysis,   Green Business
  2. tags:
    Green Technology,  Schno,  Bio Fuel
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26 comments // Scientists making diesel with sun, water, CO2

  • treewolf39
  • Gravity_Man
  • mitekillem
  • Gravity_Man
  • Gravity_Man
    • +1
      Gravity_Man  
    • mitekillem:

      You can't legally do that fermentation stuff at home. Too high an Octane = too many blown up homes on fire. Making diesel is OK because the octane is so low to be safe. Diesel dances under the wire. All that's needed is a Home Kit. In fact they are already being sold I used to have a link. But that one was using food and grass clippings for composting and I think some people burned down their home anyway, so maybe they aren't sold any more.

      If this Joule+Unlimited system skips composting you'd be 100% legal and safe to your neighbors. It isn't Mr. Fusion, or is it?

      Hmm. It comes pretty close!

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • Gravity_Man:

      Mr. Natural Fusion! Mr. Living Stuff Fusion!

      Mr. Solar Igniter + Fusion! Mr. Happy Homemaker Fusion!

      Mr. Opec Heat Seeking Fusion! Mr. Goliath Giant Killer Fusion!

      Okay, bring in the Brad Pitt with the sword scene!

    • 1 year ago
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
    • +1
      COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM  

    • Is it time that we, through our employee; government, surge ahead and establish the national energy company, producing now ready alternative energy and delivery streams? Where does it say in the constitution that in order to have life essential energy, we have to make some corporations rich and richer, first?

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Joeydee44
    • +3
      Joeydee44  

    • This company sounds promising. All it needs now is a multi-billion dollar energy company to buy it out and bog it down for another ten years with infinite bureaucracy.

    • 1 year ago
  • Schnookums
  • artemis6
    • +3
      artemis6  
    • Schnookums:

      We will have to do it on our own - illegally if need be . It will be well worth the risk to free ourselves from the corporate slavery we not are entrenched in . The farm i saw was backyard small . Could be hidden and could fuel a modest home's energy needs . Decentralizing power will free us from being dependent on these price gouging lowlifes we call power companies .

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
  • extracrazykiwi2008
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  

    • Joule reverse-engineered to get Diesel? Well that's right simple so it will join the other Major Fails.

      The harder they work the harder they fall => that's the Rule.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
    • +1
      artemis6  
    • Gravity_Man:

      The world is waking up . It may yet succeed . Do not begrudge another's success because your has failed . We have all failed to live up to our potential in one way or another . Often because it was NOT up to us , entirely . If even one of us makes it , it is a win for all .

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • artemis6:

      Failure is a many-splendored animal. I haven't failed except maybe as a cheerleader, and that's okay. Men weren't cheerleaders when I went to school. haha My potential ~and reputation~ remains intact. My "success" lies in the laws of Physics now harnessed, not whether some arbitrary person approves.

      I can guarantee you Energy Czar Chu celebrates his victory NOT JUST OVER ME BUT OVER EVERYBODY. If everybody is happy with that then who am I to disagree with the crew of the Enterprise?!

      What we could use is an artificial grass whose blades absorb solar energy and transmits it down into the backing routed to a common collection point => THE HOUSE.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • artemis6:

      If the Joule Unlimited people could make artificial "grass blades" that do the OPPOSITE of real grass and somehow attracts or otherwise separates out carbon dioxide out of the air... and begins the process in the grass blades the reaction with sunlight...

      ... and sends the CO2 back to the house, the basement where the rest of their process can finish making their diesel, then right there you have YOUR ANSWER => diesel fuel can POWER A DIESEL GENERATOR ... except instead of sending the CO2 again produced out into the air it can catch its own exhaust and make more diesel?

      HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I slay me sometimes.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • +1
      Gravity_Man  
    • Gravity_Man:

      Joule+Unlimited has made the Ultimate Engine! I repeat =>

      ... and sends the CO2 back to the house, the basement where the rest of their process can finish making their diesel, then right there you have YOUR ANSWER => diesel fuel can POWER A DIESEL GENERATOR ... except instead of sending the CO2 again produced out into the air it can catch its own exhaust and make more diesel?

    • 1 year ago
  • kvb1
    • +3
      kvb1  

    • This has great possibilities. We could eliminate foreign oil, shut down domestic offshore drilling, and at $30/barrel for BioDiesel and $50/barrel for ethanol we would be saving a ton over the price of oil.

      The only down sides would be that we are still putting CO, CO2 and other pollutants back into the atmosphere, and then there is the danger that these micro organisms get out into the wild and kill lakes and streams. Not trying to put a damper on what looks like a great project, just trying to keep things real.

    • 1 year ago
  • Schnookums
    • +3
      Schnookums  
    • kvb1:

      Unless I misunderstand the science, because it uses waste or existing atmospheric CO2 it is not releasing long stored CO2 like burning fossil fuels......so it's more like cycling the CO2, not putting new stuff into the atmosphere.

      I do agree with you about the danger of them getting into lakes and streams though......can you imagine the oh-so-tragic-irony of the world's waterways slowly being polluted and turned into hydrocarbons?

    • 1 year ago
  • August_K
    • +2
      August_K  

    • Just think what that would mean.......our "military industrial complex" would have ZERO reasons to try and control the major oil deposits in the world ....or have a need to put "friendlies" in power.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
  • August_K
    • +2
      August_K  

    • Wow......this is great news! Let's hope big oil doesn't try to stop them somehow.

      Wish more folks would Vote this article UP (upper right corner) so it would get more visibility.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
  • artemis6
  • Schnookums
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