Algae Biofuel Energy In Yuma, Arizona

Lauren Nash 5/27/18 Alternative Energy Essay P.7 Science

Rapidly the world is succumbing to climate change, a problem that is becoming more disastrous day by day. The use of Fossil Fuels throughout the years has created this issue and now the people of the world need to fix this problem. The solution is renewable energy. Therefore, the alternative energy source, Biomass, combined with an Algae Biofuel energy source would best benefit the community in Yuma, Arizona. Biomass and algae biofuel would work well together in Yuma, Arizona because biomass has a fairly good energy efficiency of 22-40%(Electricity Generation Reading),

To convert algae into a biofuel, first oil is extracted. An expeller is used to extract oil from the algae. This extracts about 70-75% of the oil. Next, hexane is utilized like a solvent to extract up to 95% of the oil. Supercritical fluid extraction is then used to extract the oil even more. Finally once the oil is completely extracted, the hydrocarbon chains in the oils are broken by hydrogen. Finally this creates a green, crude oil which can be used as fuel when put under heat(http://sks.sirs.com webapparticleartno=0000283550& type=ART%20(SIRS%20Issues%20Researcher)). The energy transformation and transfer that occurs is solar energy from the sun is transferred to the algae to help it grow. Then when pressure is put upon the algae, it transforms solar energy to chemical energy allowing it to be stored as an oil. Finally, when this oil is utilized it can be transformed into electrical energy. On the other hand, to produce biomass, waste is burned to make a steam that turns a turbine. Then this generates electricity and gives homes and industries heat. This is a kinetic energy to electrical energy transformation because the turbine is a generator which uses motion to power electricity. There are many advantages and disadvantages to producing algae biofuel as well. For example, algae uses large amounts of carbon dioxide, which will decrease the carbon dioxide on a large scale. Thus,

This could be seen as a disadvantage because biomass production also requires a good amount of water to produce crops and other materials that are used to make biomass. Therefore, the people of Arizona could potentially suffer from water shortages and droughts due to the loss of water used to power both energy sources. However, this isn’t the case because algae can also be grown in ocean water, that has a much larger supply, which is right next to Arizona. Therefore, this problem can easily be solved because algae thrives in brackish water, ocean water, and freshwater. This means that the people of Yuma, Arizona would only need to put some of their water into biomass production instead of both