Introduction

Prometheus came down from the mountain, holding in his hand the gift the gods would keep from humans. Fire is the great healer, the great destroyer, that which has allowed humans to rise to the moon and beyond.

The first wave of fire-induced extinction came with the spread of humans across the landscape, changing through burning. The second wave of fire-induced extinction came with industry, powered by burning wood, burning coal, and burning oil. The third wave of fire-induced extinction is now upon us, as heat trapped by the rising levels of carbon in the atmosphere.

But fire need not be our enemy, for within it lays the beauty and spirit upon which humanity has risen and thrives. The very breath of life in each and every soul is a blessed fire burning slowly, a candle illuminating a lifetime.

The Chlorophyll Collective believes that the fire inherent in every living being can provide the means to overcome the destruction laid upon the earth by humanity. Plants complete the cycle of life; they breathe in the carbon that is the exhale of our breath, just as we breathe in the oxygen that is their exhalation. To heal the damage caused by humanity’s fire, we will need to come into a new understanding and symbiosis with the life that makes the air we breath.

We believe that the act of cultivating living things is a fundamentally spiritual act. Biofuels -- fossil fuel substitutes made from plants -- offer the possibility of coming closer to nature while solving the urgent problems of climate change and petroleum dependency. Expanding conventional industrial agricultural practices to grow fuel, however, (as suggested by our president) would create more problems than it would solve. Conventional biofuels such as corn ethanol or soy biodiesel are inefficient and compete directly with food production. Attempting to meet the world’s energy needs with such crops would require excessive amounts of arable land, topsoil, and fresh water, raise food prices, and cause untold ecological damage. To heal the damage done by our industrial fire, humanity will need to explore new crops that do not require scarce resources and that grow far faster. Such crops exist, though they have traditionally been seen as little more than scum.

Algae can produce approximately 100x more fuel per acre than conventional crops. They can be grown in salt water, on non-arable land (or the ocean), and can be fertilized with wastewater or exhaust from the burning of fossil fuels. In addition to biofuels, algae can also make useful co-products such as high- quality nutrients, fertilizer, polymers, and animal feed. Algae breath in greenhouse gases and clean the air, emitting oxygen at prodigious rates. Although growing algae requires a little bit more technology than traditional crops -- a microscope, for example, is standard equipment -- it is still relatively low- tech compared to many alternative energy options. Due to the relatively small area needed for its growth, the simple requirements and low cost of its cultivation, and its ability to remediate wastewater, algal biofuels are a natural technology for developing countries and grass-roots groups seeking sustainability and energy independence.

Plants are the original and most powerful form of solar energy available on the planet. Almost all life can be traced to the sustenance harnessed by the magic compound we call chlorophyll. It is our aim to educate and infuse people with the dream that in the new world ahead of us, we will thrive together with healthy biological systems, moving into the future as partners with the life on this planet.

ELEMENTS OF THE SINGLE CELL SOLUTION

• First Expansion Chamber: Aluminium or Steel sheeting, many square meters: before the heat exchanger, attached to the generator exhaust. Built in to this chamber is an emergency pressure relief valve, to prevent back-pressure from affecting the generators.
• Heat Exchanger: Large aluminum tube with coils of copper tubing circulating with cold water or glycerol for cooling exhaust to temperatures compatible with plastic pipe. Needs to be able to handle ~4000cfm of exhaust at ~1000F and cool it to ~150F .
• Aluminium or Steel Ducting, >5inch diameter
  This is for heat exchanger gas delivery chambers, these will contain the cooling coils and the gas will passover the coils through this duct.
• Copper or Aluminium tubing ~1/4 - 1/2 inch diameter, flexible enough to coil.
  These are the cooling fluid delivery coils. They are coiled around inside the gas delivery ducts, and have cold water running in the front, and steam coming out the back.
• Air Vacuum Pumps (Blowers): ~4000 cfm, 4 PSI.
  These suck exhaust through the heat exchangers from the generator, and blow it into the algae tubes.

• Aluminium or Steel sheeting, many square meters. after the heat exchangers, attached to the blowers.
• Tubing, many lengths of many diameters, of any materials. This is used to deliver the cool, pressurized exhaust gas from the blowers to the 350 algae photobioreactors.
• Gas Distribution Manifold (Gang Valve)
  These are also called "gang-valves" and basically have one gas inlet and several gas outlets, so that we can deliver gas from 1 generator to 350 bioreactors.
• Gas Diffuser (Bubble stone):
  Gas diffusers. 350 of them, each passing around 12 cfm. These are the spargers, or "bubble-stones", that deliver the exhaust gas into the liquid algae cultures in the bioreactors. They can be made of scintered glass, perforated metal or plastic, or even fabric. Smaller bubble size is better, to maximize mass transfer of CO2 from the gas to the water. These require a check valve to prevent algae water flowing back into the gas distribution system.
• Algae Tube: Bioreactor tube material. 175 sections of 10mil polyethylene tubing, each 16 feet long.
• Bioreactor Support Structure: structure to suspend bioreactors; chain link fence would do the trick, or something similar.

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