Chile Forum

patagoniax wrote:

maxine wrote:Can't you use algae to produce bio diesel?

Not so long ago I did some minor work for the Chilean Ministry of Foreign affairs on an aspect of this very topic. It involves the use of certain micro-organisms found in Antarctica to produce not just any old biodiesel, but a type that features an essential low-temperature antifreeze characteristic. When the same organisms are brought to a more temperate location, they lose the ability to produce this feature for the biodiesel. The short potential growing season on the Antarctic peninsula limits the amount of biodiesel that can be produced in this manner, but there is some possibility of using the organisms to not just generate a portion of the needed fuel for base operations, but also to consume some of the waste products that the base produces.

English language version of a summary http://www.inach.cl/InachWebNeo/CONTROL ... ploy/6.pdf

BIODIESEL: A GREEN ALTERNATIVE TO FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION IN ANTARCTIC BASES
Principal investigator: Pedro CID-AGÜERO, Dirección de Programas Antárticos, Universidad de Magallanes.

I still can't get them to stop referring to researchers as "investigators" but oh well. Welcome to Chile.

Looked through the doc, must appreciated.

And another step off topic. Wondering since you participated in this report and live way down there. do you know where is the krill fishery and does Chile participate in it?

patagoniax wrote:[Some economic data for you http://www.sea-world.com/ifop/exportaci ... _algas.htm]

$US1M/month for kelp.

Guessing this was a Chilean effort rather than established by Japanese companies?

off topic a bit:

I am getting the feeling so far that a lot of export was set up by Chileans.

Timber, fresh fruit, wine, all Chilean entrepreneurs?

Copper and other mining... pals of Nixon I guess, but I assume these are mostly now Chilean dominated?

no country for young men wrote: where is the krill fishery and does Chile participate in it?

Krill is a touchy subject. Chile is trying to take a more active role in the studies and conservation of fishery stocks in the South Ocean region. Chilean fisheries research indicates that a large percentage of total Antarctic krill biomass is located in the region of the Antarctic that is claimed by Chile, though this territorial claim is disputed. Major krill catch fleets are from Japan (including Chilean subsidiaries), UK, Ukraine, Norway, and Poland. Chilean catch was originally mostly exported to Japan but now Chile has a domestic interest because of the use of "krill meal" for the salmon fisheries in the Patagonia. At least two Japanese companies involved in krill catch have Chilean subsidiaries, but Chilean fisheries were slow in getting into the krill catch because they were generally not technologically prepared for the specialised handling that krill requires for some of its end-uses. However, using technology transfer from foreign fisheries (esp Japan) Chile grew to the fourth-largest krill harvester. The "inedible" or not for human consumption fish meal for Chilean domestic use requires a lower level of technological investment.

One of the reasons that krill is a touchy subject within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is because of the geopolitical angle. By allowing Russian, Norwegian, and others to have no competition for their krill fishing in the claimed Antarctic region, there is a concern that those countries will be able to claim "historic fishing rights" and will thus dilute Chile's pretensions to a claim. Thus there is a political as much as economic desire for the Chilean krill fishery operations in Antarctica, even if the Chilean activity is done as a subsidiary to Japanese companies.

I do know that the Chilean Ministry of Foreign affairs, through their Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH -Instituto Antártico Chileno) has long been involved in krill research, and some of their older publications may be of some interest to you. INACH did krill research back in the 1970s and possibly earlier.

Did I understand your question to also be about where the Chilean krill fishing fleet was based? That would be Talcahuano, near Concepción.

no country for young men wrote:Copper and other mining... pals of Nixon I guess,

No.

no country for young men wrote: but I assume these are mostly now Chilean dominated?

Read up on Codelco, the national copper corporation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codelco

CODELCO (Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile or, in English, the National Copper Corporation of Chile) is the Chilean state owned copper mining company formed in 1976 from the foreign owned copper companies that were nationalised in 1971. ......

Krill oil is being promoted as superior to fish oil supplements. Not much worry about contamination coming from the Southern Ocean and near the bottom of the food chain.

Is Chile aggressive in protecting its fishing rights? Read the wiki on border disputes with Argentina and noticed that Chile comes in third after US and France in terms of economic zone size. I remember Ecuador facing down the US over tuna a long time ago and in the wiki article, I learned that this was the impetus for extending to the 200 mile zone worldwide.

seems like the nascent seaweed~biofuel industry now has a chilean start-up
speaking as a former phycologist, g~ is very happy to see this kind of development!
however, the future viability~profitability of said company remains to be demonstrated
btw - we are not shareholders (yet) http://www.ba-lab.com/

Bio Architecture Opening Chile Plant to Convert Seaweed to Fuel
Jan 20, 2012

Bio Architecture Lab Inc., the U.S. biotechnology company that turns seaweed into ethanol, will open a pilot plant in Chile in the third quarter to tap the growing demand for biofuels in developing regions.

The plant will crush seaweed grown in four ocean farms and ferment the sugary juices into alcohol, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Trunfio Jr. said yesterday in an interview.

Bio Architecture’s technology is well-suited for emerging markets in Asia and South America with established aquaculture industries and growing demand for transport fuels, Trunfio said.

“It’s a perfect fit,” he said. “Energy demand is growing in the same places seaweed is plentiful.”

Building a plant in the U.S. would be “about two or three times more expensive,” than in Chile, he said. It will have annual production capacity of 6,000 liters (1,600 gallons) of a diluted form of ethanol a year. About 60 percent of the dry biomass of seaweed is fermentable carbohydrates.

Bio Architecture, based in Berkeley, California, is seeking funds to build a second pilot project next year to process seaweed into chemicals including precursors for nylon and green plastics, he said.

greg~judy wrote:seems like the nascent seaweed~biofuel industry now has a chilean start-up
speaking as a former phycologist, g~ is very happy to see this kind of development!
however, the future viability~profitability of said company remains to be demonstrated
btw - we are not shareholders (yet) http://www.ba-lab.com/

Bio Architecture Opening Chile Plant to Convert Seaweed to Fuel
Jan 20, 2012

Bio Architecture Lab Inc., the U.S. biotechnology company that turns seaweed into ethanol, will open a pilot plant in Chile in the third quarter to tap the growing demand for biofuels in developing regions.

The plant will crush seaweed grown in four ocean farms and ferment the sugary juices into alcohol, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Trunfio Jr. said yesterday in an interview.

Bio Architecture’s technology is well-suited for emerging markets in Asia and South America with established aquaculture industries and growing demand for transport fuels, Trunfio said.

“It’s a perfect fit,” he said. “Energy demand is growing in the same places seaweed is plentiful.”

Building a plant in the U.S. would be “about two or three times more expensive,” than in Chile, he said. It will have annual production capacity of 6,000 liters (1,600 gallons) of a diluted form of ethanol a year. About 60 percent of the dry biomass of seaweed is fermentable carbohydrates.

Bio Architecture, based in Berkeley, California, is seeking funds to build a second pilot project next year to process seaweed into chemicals including precursors for nylon and green plastics, he said.

technology1.png

People have been seeking start-up capital to set up “pilot scale” plants for this for 10 years. Their proprietary system uses one of dozens of newly isolated enzymes and isn’t really very proprietary. There are dozens of “patented” systems for working with the kelps to produce almost anything. They all rely on the fact the kelps increases its biomass faster than anything on earth, that is the primary economic factor.

The farming part is too costly, you have to crop it from the wild a couple of times a season to not lose any money, and you have to crop allot, the harvest rights are the issue in Chile, hard to figure out how to approach them.

Anyone who uses this word in their PR is “run away from quickly” worthy “nutraceuticals”

Huh? 4 farms producing all together 6000l of (diluted??) ethanol per year... is that 16l per day or did my calculator just take me for a ride? Wow, that's going to take some amazing scaling to be a commercial proposition. There isn't a zero or two or three missing there somewhere in the report by any chance?

Kelp biz:

New study on Fukushima contribution to local green -well brown in this case - economy - well ecosystem - here in Santa Cruz.

Kelp not surprisingly concentrates iodine, radioactive or not. So a nice warm blanket to wrap the fur ball while mom's out fishing.

http://enenews.com/california-2500-bqkg ... sts-canada

"...
Southern California had 2,500 Bq/kg of iodine-131 in seaweed — Over 500% higher than other tests in U.S., Canada
...
Corona Del Mar (Highest in Southern California)

* 2.5 Bq/gdwt (gram dry weight)= 2,500 Bq/kg of dry seaweed

Santa Cruz (Highest in Central California)

* 2.0 Bq/gdwt = 2,000 Bq/kg of dry seaweed
...."

It's not a lot, and it's only iodine...

"...
More about California radiation exposure after Fukushima:

* Anaheim, CA has highest amount of radioactive fallout of any EPA air monitoring station in Continental U.S. for iodine-131
* USGS: Los Angeles area had highest cesium deposition in US after Fukushima
* "Tends to concentrate in the testicles": 360+ atoms of radioactive sulfur per day may have been inhaled by Californians after Fukushima
* Unprecedented Spike: 1501 atoms of radioactive sulfur per meter³ was detected in California air
* Radioactive sulfur in California spiked to highest levels ever detected: University researchers
* Controversy after US gov't estimate showed 40,000 microsievert thyroid dose for California infants from Fukushima -- Data not released to public -- "Very high doses to children"
* Spike in radiation levels for West Coast? "Abnormal" readings on 8 of 18 EPA monitors for California, Oregon, Washington -- Devices now "undergoing quality review"
* Nuclear policy expert: "Striking" that radioactive iodine-131 in California rainwater is so far above level permitted in drinking water
* Uranium-234 detected in Hawaii, Southern California, and Seattle

...."

Move along, nothing to see here.

=========

I started this thread before Fukushima wondering if the advantages of Chile - clean water and air, etc. - would raise its profile as a provider of ocean derived products.

After Fukushima, has anyone noted any upswing in interest in Chilean ocean derived products like seaweed?

Stuff is stil plentiful and cheap southern V Region coast.

My concern, as it would be no matter what place on the planet at this moment in human history, is mercury in the seaweed. Other than that, a potent nutrition source for trace minerals lacking in the modern diet and radioactive protective IF NOT contaminated by radioactive particles.

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:Stuff is stil plentiful and cheap southern V Region coast.

My concern, as it would be no matter what place on the planet at this moment in human history, is mercury in the seaweed. Other than that, a potent nutrition source for trace minerals lacking in the modern diet and radioactive protective IF NOT contaminated by radioactive particles.

I think most mercury polluters - primarily coal burners - are far away from Chilean waters. (India might be an exception.) It's possible the local volcanoes let off a good dose intermittently. My guess is one can safely ignore that source most of the time - if not all of the time - and the comparison is to other kelp harvesting areas which I presume are in the northern hemisphere and in the higher latitudes where coal plant pollution is most pronounced.

The same goes for Fukushima pollution. Southern Chilean waters and air are about as unlinked as one can get I think.