Algae as fuel

							12.12.2007 7:16 AM
Making Fuel from Algae
Shell Plans Biodiesel Algae Plant in Hawaii


The big island of Hawaii will be the host for an innovative new fuel-making plant: Royal Dutch Shell plans to
open a facility that makes biodiesel from algae.

The project, under the auspices of a new Shell company, Cellana, will grow algae in ponds and convert the
extracted vegetable oil to biodiesel. If small production is successful, according to the Independent Shell will
build larger plants to test the commercial viability of the fuel.

Algae is an example of an alternative fuel that the U.S. government has disinvested in. In the 1970s,
research explored its potential as an fuel source, but it abandoned the research as oil prices dropped. The
Democratic U.S. presidential candidates, and some of the Republicans, have advocated a return to the old
days of intense research and development.

With oil at record-high prices, and fears of peak oil and global warming ever present, alternatives can't come
soon enough.

*Note: This story has been corrected. The plant will be built on the Kona coast of Hawaii, a.k.a. the big
island. Kona is not the name of a Hawaiian island.