Burning waste cooking oil

[Russell Kanning]

Somewhere in my research, I stumbled upon the fact that some species of blue-green algae have not changed at all in the last 3.5 BILLION years because they are naturally perfect.

According to my research God made a really cool thing called algae .... and it was good. It has not substantially changed in a few thousand years.

[Michael Fisher]

Somewhere in my research, I stumbled upon the fact that some species of blue-green algae have not changed at all in the last 3.5 BILLION years because they are naturally perfect.

According to my research God made a really cool thing called algae .... and it was good. It has not substantially changed in a few thousand years.

The Earth could have been created 25 years ago for all I know. 

[AlanM]

Somewhere in my research, I stumbled upon the fact that some species of blue-green algae have not changed at all in the last 3.5 BILLION years because they are naturally perfect.

According to my research God made a really cool thing called algae .... and it was good. It has not substantially changed in a few thousand years.

The Earth could have been created 25 years ago for all I know.?

And where the heck was I for the 29 years previous to then?  ???

[Michael Fisher]

And where the heck was I for the 29 years previous to then?? ???

How am I supposed to know?   ???

[AlanM]

And where the heck was I for the 29 years previous to then?? ???

How am I supposed to know?? ????

My older brother and sister use to tell me I was an alien. 

[Lloyd Danforth]

"On the other hand, because spirulina is multi-celled, the cell membranes are soft and very easy to digest and therefore require no processing. Because of this, bowel movements do not turn green."

I was worried about that.?

Well, that will take some of the fun out of eating it!

[Russell Kanning]

So what way are you going to go with your experiments Mike?

[Pat McCotter]

There is also reference to Chlorella vulgaris in the biodiesel writings.

[Michael Fisher]

So what way are you going to go with your experiments Mike?

First, Ken and I need to eliminate a few problems and improve the process.  Then, we'll probably try a strain of spirulina.  We can focus on strain selection later.

After we're able to grow algae very efficiently, we must find a method of lipid (oil) extraction, at which point we can TEST the oil!  Then we will need a source of each separate fertilizer which will give us the ability to test the effects of nitrogen starvation immediately prior to lipid extraction.

We'll be in VERY good shape at that point.   

[KBCraig]

The show "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe did a segment on growing pharmaceutical algae in Hawaii. I don't remember the type; it was blood red, though.

They used a centrifuge to extract the liquids (they were after the solids). But I suppose you'd have a mix of water and oil afterwards; perhaps gravity settling would be sufficient to separate them.

Kevin

[Michael Fisher]

The show "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe did a segment on growing pharmaceutical algae in Hawaii. I don't remember the type; it was blood red, though.

They used a centrifuge to extract the liquids (they were after the solids). But I suppose you'd have a mix of water and oil afterwards; perhaps gravity settling would be sufficient to separate them.

Kevin

Lipids must be extracted from the rest of the microorganism.  Existing thermal and chemical extraction methods are not cost effective, according to researchers.  We believe mechanical lipid extraction to be the only possible solution at this point.

We hope to find a way to efficiently grind or crush the lipids out of the cell, at which point washing, settling, and filtering could be sufficient to separate the oil.  Preferably, we'll come up with a simple human-powered mechanical extraction method for minimum expense.

[Michael Fisher]

Algae is not the size of a grape, so we cannot just step on them to extract the oil.   

We'll have to come up with a better idea.

[AlanM]

Algae is not the size of a grape, so we cannot just step on them to extract the oil.? ?

We'll have to come up with a better idea.

What about something like a book press.

[KBCraig]

particle size is going to count... with any press, you'll need a filter that's sized to let the liquids through, but catch the solids.

[AlanM]

particle size is going to count... with any press, you'll need a filter that's sized to let the liquids through, but catch the solids.

True, though you could easily have a dual filtration system. The first would catch most of the solids, the second more completely.
I remember my youth when I worked in a cider mill. They had a dual system.