What exactly is the fuel?
Algal fuels are made by extracting and refining the lipids within algae. Algae are attractive biofuel feedstock because it grows quickly and thrives in everything from seawater to irrigation runoff to sewage.
How much water is required:
Growing all that algae would require land roughly the size of South Carolina and 350 gallons of water for each gallon of algal oil. All told, that comes to about 25 percent of the water we currently use for crop irrigation. (The researchers say that’s on par with ethanol.)
That seems like a lot. Perhaps some genetic breading of algae? At least in general people (or livestock) don’t eat algae so I find that a more attractive alternative than corn.
