Production of biofuels in the home: Bio-Grow

At a time when gasoline prices grow like mushrooms after rain, and sometimes just take off after a local war, more innovative thinking about the production of biofuels , which will replace petroleum products. It is derived from sugar cane, corn, trying to extract even from landfills and sewage systems – but it goes too high or too low. Bioreactor-concept Bio-Grow – a device that allows you to produce biofuels directly into the home of green algae.

We have already written about the projects of marine unicellular algae – not just for breathing under water with scuba gear, but also to create a biofuel in algal blooms. Collect phytoplankton in the sea and make him “the third-generation biofuels” – the most progressive direction to date.

 

While the algae can be grown over large areas, they love to relatively high temperatures. But it is precisely such a temperature regime prevails at home all year round! So why not start the home production of biofuels from algae grown in the apartment? That was the message and came up with designer Mark Schnitzer, and with his team, he created a working model of bioreactor Bio-Grow.

Most of the volume of the bioreactor – algae of aquarium. Algae thrive in your home warmth and comfort, in which case, they can be warmed from below (in the test sample used for the old picture tube). At the same green cells absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, purifying the air in the apartment. All information about the system is displayed on the screen (Marc Schnitzer adapted for this used laptop display Dell Latitude CPX). As the rapid growth of algae, they can be drained through a tube and processed into biofuel.

This concept took second place in design competition and innovation, E-Waste Design Competition-2010. Given that it already operates a prototype, and the price of oil continues to grow biofuels at home on system Schnitzer can predict a great future.