Algae: The New Snake Oil

Harry Houdini was desperate to speak to his dead mother.  As such he sought out fortune tellers, and mystics, and oracles throughout the land.  When traveling to do his own shows, he would incorporate side-trips into his quest to find his Mom.

Which meant poor Harry sat through endless séances and crystal ball sessions with tricksters, inferior magicians, and charlatans of all sorts. He would visit.  Pay.  Thank them politely, and reveal to them and to the world how they did their tricks.

Then he would keep looking.

Many in the grassroots biodiesel community have the same relationship to feedstock oil from algae.

Several years ago, while having lunch with some professors from N.C. State, I was told that a graduate seminar class in chemistry could easily extract oil from algae, but lacked a $500.00 centrifuge to get it done.

I offered to buy the centrifuge in exchange for a gallon of algae oil and the blogging rights, and when I came home, I was immediately labeled as "the guy who would pay 500.00 a gallon."

I've since told this story to audiences a half dozen times, and I know that it has inspired some people to try because I am occasionally contacted by folks who want to know if the offer still stands if they ship me 10,000 gallons.

I merely want one single gallon of oil from algae. Something I can turn into biodiesel in a blender. Nothing fancy. And I know that I am not alone in this. What is a playful hobby for me is a deep seated passion with others. Yet the offer stands unrequited.

I've bumped into Kumar moments after he has been devastated to learn that his favorite algae-project-du-jour is a farce. I've encountered a disconsolate Frankie, who, after hours of waiting for the right guy on the trade show floor, extracted the confession that the stuff in the bottle is actually food color and water.

Like Houdini, there are many of us searching for anyone who can provide a lone gallon of oil from algae. We respond to the algae-spam which crosses our in-boxes, we call the phone numbers in the press releases. We comb the web.

Every now and then, when we take our seats at the oil from algae table, one of us thinks we see the curtain move mysteriously. But each time someone else explains the truth.