(mod edit for dup pic)
So does this mean all six billion of us can now start preparing ourselves for garages full of harleys and holdens! I'ld love a Monaro V8 please!

No it means we can prepare for the invasion of California to liberate the locals from tyranny, or WMD, or anything else we can think of that isn't plankton.

we cannot build 52,000 square kilometres of plankton pools along with all the pipelines, pumping stations, machinery and thermal depolymerisation plants which would be necessary.

it's an inconceivable project.

there just isn't enough spare concrete or steel available to do it.

How big would the pool have to be (area wise and resource wise) for projected crude use in a fully developed planet......i.e. does this scheme have a peak point as well in terms of its own fabrication and operation? Can we, alternatively, use as not yet fully conceptualised materials for its fabrication?

MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish company claimed on Thursday to have developed a method of breeding plankton and turning the marine plants into oil, providing a potentially inexhaustible source of clean fuel.

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Vehicle tests are some time away because the company, Bio Fuel Systems, has not yet tried refining the dark green coloured crude oil phytoplankton turn into, a spokesman said.

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.

"Our system of bioconversion is about 400 times more productive than any other plant-based system producing oil or ethanol," it said, referring to currently available biofuels made from plants like maize or oilseeds.

Bio Fuel Systems is working with scientists at the University of Alicante on the project. It has drawn up industrial plans to make the fuel and says it will be able to start continuous production in 14 to 18 months.

Up to now I had failed to find any credible argument in THIS THREAD why algi to oil project would not work.
Concerning large reservoirs:
Build few dosen of medium sized dams (worldwide) and you are ok.
Single large dam (3 gorges alike) would also do!
Most of redundant drilling platforms could easily be 'recycled' into necessary pumping machinery etc.
Entire process would be carbon neutral (based on atmospheric CO2), therefore GW concerns are also irrelevant.
I will wait few years to see whats going on and buy new SUV if technology looks promissing.

Such a doom for doomers...

The problem is this. The company has claims. Have they any proof, even a little bit? They are a company looking to get money for funding. This means nothing till they are actually doing something with that money.

And, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't plankton little fish? They are telling me we are going to replace all the worlds oil production with little fish?

A member of the forum (Omar) who was completing his doctorate on algal fuel production had this to say about it all. No doubt similar problems apply for related feedstocks like plankton too.

I think, they mean phytoplankton, not zooplankton.
Find better argument, please.

Maybe lipids producing GM bacterias are actually doing a trick.
Nowdays you can force bacteria to produce almost any organic chemicals, why not lipids?

Obviously all what Spanish company is doing might be just investor scam, but we shall see.

Lipids (fat) make the best energy. We could just use 'mercan's liposuctioned stores. Soylent Green is people.

Yes, we shall see. But whenever I come across something like this that talks about "unlimited amounts of energy", or claims fantastical yields my bullshit detector goes into overdrive. Please understand I am not saying that biofuel production won't have some role to play in the future, if we play our cards right and don't fuck up which is the most likely possibility at this stage, just that it is inconceivable to think of it as a replacement for even a fraction of the oil even currently consumed.

Woohoo! That's more like it! This thread's been Doomerized: renamed dismissively and slotted under an insulting 2-option poll with no room for unsure or subtle opinions. Yeah! The Doomers are not dead, just a little slow to react. Good Doomers, nice Doomers!

Love this site.

I read something about "everything into oil", that is basically a way to transform any animal products into oil. It was being tested with whatever is left from chickens and other birds in slaughterhouses. However, this process requires a lot of energy to make it work. Looks like the plankton into oil lies in the same cathegory. It will still require large energy inputs to work, so, nothing new here. Nice would be to have some bacteria that could eat up our trash and leave a nice byproduct: OIL. OMG, I'm a genius! I must patent that!

I want FREE ENERGY!!!

Be reasonable, slick. In this case I agree with what the moderator(s) have done. The forum will survive longer than it otherwise would have, and it does make sense to unify the whole plankton mess in one vat.

People who are unsure can opt out of voting.