Tiered Algae Farm and Coal Power Plant concept - CLICK TO ENLARGE
This is a diagram for the Coal Power Plant and Algaeo Bio Fuel farm concept. It goes into some detail into the idea for taking the CO2 from a coal power plant and piping it into a Tiered Vertical Wafered Algae System (TVWAS). This concept was first brainstormed at a previous article here at overidon.com. But this diagram omits the desalinization portion of the concept and introduced the idea of converting the algae into bio fuel. Here is a great article that describes how algae can be turned into bio fuel. The interesting thing about this diagram is that the Coal Power Plant not only generates electricity and heat, but it also has the byproduct of CO2 pollution. Fortunately, the algae in the TVWAS can hypothetically use the CO2 pollution as a food source. The TVWAS will have transparent walls, ceilings, floors and windows, so it will still be able to absorb some sunlight without needing to be using artificial sunlight energy in order to feed the algae.
A water source will be quite important so that is why the previous article discusses having a desalination plant nearby. But this diagram concept is to illustrate the CO2 -> Biofuel technique.
The reason why I like this idea is because it uses coal, which is a very abundant power source in the United States of America. And the other great thing is that biofuel can be used as a transition fuel for automobiles as we move to more electric solutions. I consider this technology to be a transition based solution that will help us move to more advanced forms of energy conversion.
The beauty of the TVWAS is that it uses technology that already exists. The only thing new is that it implements concepts of cogeneration in order to minimize waste. Of course there will need to be scrubbers that will clean the coal emissions of sulfur and other pollutants that the algae won’t be able to eat, but the amount of CO2 that can be turned into fuel could be quite lucrative. If enough of these TVWAS systems are sucessfully created in the future, the United States of America could become a fuel exporter instead of a vulnerably dependent consumer of fossil fuels.
Another reason why this type of system is being researched by overidon.com is the amount of employment opportunities for a wide variety of disciplines and skill levels for American Citizens. There will need to be a strong infrastructure of computer programmers, green technology experts, algae and farming specialists as well as industrial workers employed in order to make this system function properly.
As I flush out the concepts in more detail I’ll make more diagrams.
-Tyler Stansfield Jaggers
April 30th 2011
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