Sequesco joins a growing list of startups that are using synthetic biology to custom-produce advanced biofuels. But unlike competitors SunEthanol and Amyris, which are engineering microbes to make cellulosic ethanol from various plant biomass sources, it uses waste carbon dioxide as its primary feedstock.
The idea is to pump CO2 from large... (Read more)
Reprinted with permission from VentureBeat. Story copyright 2008 VentureBeat Inc. All rights reserved.
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It is a good idea, but in the end doesn't the CO2 still end up in the atmosphere (after the biofuel is combusted)? To me it seems that you are getting two uses for the CO2 (one for the first power generation and the second for biofuel) so that is good. If the CO2 can help lower the cost and other environmental impact of biofuel production (not chopping down more forrest to produce biomass) then this still has real merits. I would like to see a CO2 "balanced equation" or comparison to really understand how much CO2 would be conserved.
CO2 is not the problem, Greg. Where does the system get its energy? Most algae systems use sunlight, which is "free" energy. Where does Sequesco get its energy? From a "nutrient broth?" What nutrients are those, and where do they come from?
It is the energy equation that must balance, not the CO2 equation, which is clearly beyond most modern humans' ability to calculate.
In the beginning they are taking fossil fuel CO2 and recycling to grow bacteria. If no more fossil fuels are used to produce CO2, then you have a carbon neutral world because your not producing new CO2 just recycling the old, again and again. As long there are no other elements creating new CO2, nature will start absorbing the excess. Maybe in the far, far future we will need to find ways of making new CO2 because we cleaned the air of too much of it. I hope so!
I agree with Greg D's comment that this technology does not make the fossil fuel-emitted CO2 disappear (like sequestration does - CO2 from underground coal and oil is stored back in the ground). In Sequesco's case the CO2 derived from fossil fuel is reconverted into a fuel and then spit back into the atmosphere. If the amount spit back is less than the amount released by burning the fossil fuel then there is some small sequestration happening. Presumably the CO2 saved takes a non-decaying form so as to keep that CO2 stored.
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