Oil From Plankton?

A Spanish firm claims to have developed a process that can grow plankton in a laboratory, then convert the marine plants into crude oil. The resulting compound has not been subjected to refining yet, so the scientists are not yet ready to gas up a car.

Bio Fuel Systems is a wholly Spanish firm, formed this year in eastern Spain after three years of research by scientists and engineers connected with the University of Alicante.

"Bio Fuel Systems has developed a process that converts energy, based on three elements: solar energy, photosynthesis and an electromagnetic field," it said in a press dossier.

"That process allows us to obtain biopetroleum, equivalent to that of fossil origin."

Phytoplankton, like other plants, absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. Scientists have examined the possibility of stimulating growth of the single cell plants as a means of reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

CO2, liberated by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, is widely held responsible for global warming.

Bio Fuel Systems said its new fuel would reduce CO2, was free of other contaminants like sulphur dioxide and would be cheaper than fossil oil is now.

If this were to actually work in a real-world production scenario, it would be the end of the reliance on petroleum (and the end to paying certain countries vast sums of money to finance their terrorism activities). I'll wait a while before celebrating, though, since I remember several announcements like this in the past that amounted to nothing in the end. I remember a process announced one time that allegedly converted garbage into crude oil.