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Goldenslicer t1_iuwlu64 wrote

Reply to comment by OdinTheHugger in Researchers fed microalgae on leftover coffee grounds to produce high-quality biodiesel | It could decrease reliance on palm oil to produce biofuel. by chrisdh79

The corn biofuel isn't just stupid because it's economically unsound without subsidies, but photosynthesis isn't really that efficient of a process at capturing solar energy, which in essence, that's what corn biofuel is. It's solar energy turned into fuel.

We do a lot better with solar panels.

Take all the land we are currently growing corn for the purpose of biofuels, and cover it in solar panels. We'd generate a lot more energy from the same amount of land.

Corn biofuel is so stupid.

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Gusdai t1_iux7fyh wrote

Exactly: these algae produce energy from the sun. This process is just a very complex solar panel, of which coffee grounds are one of the costs, not the source of energy.

The process would make sense if you could produce something with high added value, like nutritious food. If you produce something that you're literally burning away by the gallon in cars, it makes no sense. Just build solar panels instead, and turn the coffee grounds into compost, or even burn them for energy directly (which can already displace a lot of fossil fuel use).

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FrueTreedom t1_iuxl3uz wrote

By the by....chlorella IS actually one of the most nutrient dense and nutrient unusual foodstuffs there is....just so you know ..look it up... Whales eat it!!😅😉

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OdinTheHugger t1_iv1d761 wrote

I think the only benefit over solar panels is energy density. It's hard to beat liquid fuels with batteries in terms of energy density.

Not impossible, just difficult.

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Goldenslicer t1_iv1xt5x wrote

Yeah, the issue with solar panels is that energy is in the form electricity, not corn. It isn't suitable to be turned into fuel for combustion cars.

But it doesn't matter. Right now, the gas at the pump is a mix of 90% fossil fuel and 10% biofuel.
We can lose the 10% biofuel, just go 100% fossil fuel, and use the energy from the solar farms to displace other energy generation sourced from fossil fuels.

And we'd have a cleaner overall energy mix, even with more polluting car fuel.

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