Boeing reveals “the biggest breakthrough in biofuels ever”

As I said in another post today, I've been catching up on my reading....

www.energypost.eu...

Alarmed by the poor quality of fuel made from shale oil and tar sands and frustrated by the blunt refusal of oil companies to provide fuel of better quality, Boeing and its partners have over the past four years sponsored research into alternative fuels that has led to spectacular results. They found that there is a class of plants that can grow in deserts on salt water and has superb biomass potential. “Nobody knew this”, says Morgan. “It is a huge discovery. A game-changer for the biofuels market.” Karel Beckman has the story.

While I'm not a fan of Abu Dhabi - in any shape or form - I'm impressed with their investments in the future.

And I'm not certain their idea of turning deserts into "Bio-Fuel Factories" is a great idea we haven't begun to assess the consequences, this does hold promise:

Morgan is not some green dreamer. He is Director of Sustainable Aviation Fuels and Environmental Strategy at The Boeing Company in Seattle in the US. He has worked on Boeing’s biofuels program for 10 years. And he is convinced that researchers at the Masdar Institute, sponsored by Boeing, Honeywell’s UOP and Etihad Airways, have achieved a breakthrough in biofuels that will make it possible for countries all over the world to turn their deserts into biofuel-producing agricultural lands. We are on the verge, says the Boeing man, of a totally sustainable solution that does not require any arable land and that is going to replace a very big chunk of the oil currently used in transport.

This could also act as CO2 sequestration as well. Take a look, don't forget the comments and tell me what you think.

FYI. The site this comes from is industry backed.

This is definitely huge. It's not good news for desert dwelling flora and fauna, but desert life is sparser than most ecosystems, so it will at least be much less damaging than deforestation. This could also help balance out the effects of deforestation as well. I hope they can fast track this technology at least as pilot programs on modest scales.

I would like nothing more than to see this succeed and bring about the death of Big Oil. It is far past time the world moves on tho the next great invention. I am not sure this is it, but maybe Big Oil dies the death of a thousand cuts....

I am not a big tree hugger, or a little one for that matter, but the sustainability and eco-friendly side of this is also a big plus IMO.

reply to post by FyreByrd



I wouldn't get too excited about this, first off by the boeing guys own admission it has not been scaled up and is at least 5 years away.

Second there are several other companies making very good progress on producing cheap sugar. Theirs is just one approach. Another company doing something even more revolutionary is Heliobiosys. They are using genetically modified organisms to actually make sugar directly using seawater, sunlight and CO2. They are very early stage as well. Protero is another company also using organisms that make sugar, but they need freshwater. Joule is supposedly able to convert sunlight water and CO2 into diesel, and ethanol directly and they are already at pilot stage. Several other companies are making progress towards cellulostic sugars as well.

Anyway, all I am saying is talk is cheap, it doesn't mean anything till any of these companies are actually producing cheap fuel. I do think it will eventually happen for jet fuel, and ships anyway, not so sure about cars - if the battery makes a leap forward electric cars are just better.

I did a little research on the plants they were talking about in the article after reading it. It sounds feasible to me. Some of these plant oils can have uses in agriculture and also in the kitchen. Bye bye Monsanto, these contain better oils than soybeans.

reply to post by FyreByrd


this'll only help the Texas economy. we have a huge desert sitting on top of very brackish water. All we need are plants.

Don't be suprised to wake up one morning to a Henry Ford - model - A - runs - on - alcohol - type prohabitchin' on cooking oil made from plants that grow in the desert and live on salt water and make better oil then soy beans....

reply to post by rickymouse


I have heard about, especially in the Middle East, planting plants that can survive on brackish water (salt water) in an effort to draw moisture into thier failing aquifers. I have also heard of China reclaiming desert by planting reeds to pull water out of the atmosphere and return it to the ground.

I'm having a bit of trouble finding links as I'm not sure how to phase the search...

I think this speaking to the ideas:

gravitationalsystems.org...


Anyhow, I digress.

If this scheme for biofuels works it could not only provide a 'clearner' transition fuel but would also act as a carbon scrubber and attract atomspheric water to the region.

Kewl...

reply to post by proximo


Thats cool! The singer in my band is from ontario and told us about how you can make bio desiel from a certain kind of algy.
He was saying that you grow this algy in a pond, when its ready to harvest you collect it all, then you ring all the water and what not in to a container, let it sit so the chemicals can seperate, then all thats left is to seperate the desiel (on top) from the water (on bottom).

Pow! you have biodesiel!

This guy knows his stuff, he has even converted his vehical to run off hydrogen (runs off of water).

This is was a good read! Thanks for the Thread!

reply to post by FyreByrd


Personally, I'll be impressed when the breakthrough is along the line of producing less emissions, not more, as the current "biofuels" do, don't consume huge quantities of much needed water, don't drive up the cost of grains which increases starvation world-wide and most of all doesn't line the pockets of well heeled investors in those Bio-fuel refineries that own the Democrat party...the shoe is on the other foot, these days....

Looks like my positions in aerospace and defense stocks as well as alternative energy ETFs are looking even better.

People don't seem to realize that America is in the beginning stages of an energy revolution and it is not just alternatives either. Oil itself is producing more, and recent discoveries are going to lessen the impact at the pump and our dependency on foreign sources.

Alternatives are looking extremely good and undervalued investment-wise and Im glad Im breaking into the industry.

Its not just about environmentalism. It's about efficiency and money. Efficiency is almost where we need it, money is right behind it.