Algae Paper

Jenson 1 At the current rate of consumption, it’s not going to take long before we have used up all of what we have become so dependent upon. That is why the world is looking at a new source of energy. A very small and unexpected source that most would not even have considered an option; algae. Using biodiesel fuels harvested from algae is not only helpful for the environment, but is a smarter way to produce alternative energy, save money, create jobs and eliminate America’s dependency on foreign oil.
The use of biodiesel fuel has been around since the beginning of the diesel engine. Its inventor, Rudolf Diesel, showcased his invention using peanut oil as the fuel source driving the engine. Diesel stated that “the diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and would help considerably in the development of agriculture of the countries which use it" (qtd. in Leduc). The diesel engine was a huge success, but unfortunately, the use of peanut oil was not. The problem with using plant derived oils for fuels is the high viscosity of the oils harvested. These oils don’t burn as completely and “cleanly” as fossil fuels do, so they leave deposits and build up in the engine’s cylinders and fuel injectors. This was part of the reason companies and governments chose to pursue using fossil fuels instead of biodiesel. In addition to cleaner burning, fossil fuels were readily available and cheap during Rudolf’s day. Well, times have changed since the introduction of the combustion engine, and the use of fossil fuels has become increasingly more expensive. That is why biofuels are becoming increasingly more popular.
But this is not a new idea. During the late 1970’s the Department of Energy funded research for the development of renewable fuel sources from different algae species. According

Jenson 2 to the United States Department of Energy, the main focus of the program, known as the Aquatic Species Program (ASP), was “the production of biodiesel from high