The United States Department of Energy estimates that if algae fuel replaced all the petroleum fuel in the United States, it would require 15,000 square miles (40,000 square kilometers), which is a few thousand square miles larger than Maryland.[8] This is less than 1/7th the area of corn harvested in the United States in 2000.[9][10]
Maximum use of existing agriculture processes and hardware is the goal.[26]
In a closed system (not exposed to open air) there is not the problem of contamination by other organisms blown in by the air. The problem for a closed system is finding a cheap source of sterile carbon dioxide (CO2). Several experimenters have found the CO2 from a smokestack works well for growing algae.[27][28] To be economical, some experts think that algae farming for biofuels will have to be done next to power plants, where they can also help soak up the pollution.
BEHL's system does just that, the most economical way