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Turning slime into gas
By TOM FITZSIMONS | Saturday, 16 December 2006

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/3901432a30.html
That slime at the bottom of your local pond could be just the thing for your car - and the planet.

A world-first bio-diesel, derived from wild algae in sewage ponds, was launched in Wellington yesterday.
It could potentially burn 90 per cent cleaner than standard diesel. Energy Minister David Parker and Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons took a spin yesterday in a four-wheel-drive vehicle filled with the new fuel. Barry Leay, a spokesman for Aquaflow, the Marlborough firm that developed the fuel, said it was believed no other country had got so far with the same product.

"This will come as a surprise to some international bio-diesel industry people who believe that this breakthrough is still years away." Mr Parker said the new technology had three big benefits for New Zealand - "climate change benefits, cleaning up our water and reducing our dependence on overseas fuels". After the drive around Wellington, Mr Parker said he could not tell the difference from ordinary fuel. "It went perfectly - on the motorway, in a traffic jam and around the local streets."
Mr Leay said the bio-diesel could eventually reach a 100 per cent level, replacing the ordinary diesel component entirely. The trade-off was a 3 per cent loss in energy efficiency, but that would be "barely noticeable".