California based company, OriginOil, recently filed a patent for a process that they have dubbed “Quantum Fracturingâ€. It is through this process that they claim the ability to manufacture “new oil†from algae in a process more efficiently and quickly than Mother Nature’s age-old method of compacting and compressing ancient algae deposits. If successful, this process could quite possibly lead to a cleaner and greener future and as well help lower the rising price of fuel worldwide. From their site,
“OriginOil’s patent-pending technology, Quantum Fracturing, is based on mass transfer and fluid fracturing science to
address the challenges of industrializing the algae oil production process.
A quantum is the smallest quantity of some physical property that a system can possess. We use the term to illustrate how we fracture the growth environment into very small parts, at the scale of a micron, or a millionth of a meter.
So, in Quantum Fracturing, water, carbon dioxide and other nutrients are fractured at very high pressure to create a slurry of micron-sized bubbles, which is then injected into the algae culture awaiting it in a lower-pressure growth vessel, the bioreactor.
This process achieves total and instantaneous distribution of nutrients to the algae culture without fluid disruption or aeration. The pressure differentials between the two zones substantially increase contact and exchange between the micronized nutrients and the algae culture.â€
The system is composed of two stages, the growth phase and the extraction phase. The first stage takes place in a bioreactor, where algae cells are exposed to nutrients and a controlled light source provided via a network of LED. As the cells mature they are collected and processed in the extraction phase where through the use of ‘Quantum Fracturing’ technology the oil is harvested for the refining and distribution process.
This process essentially could supply us with an almost limitless supply of oil that could be used in the manufacturing of everything from gasoline to plastics without the negative effects that the present day petroleum industry has on the world.
