Chapter 101 - 100 Microalgae-Based Ethanol Production

Words : 1182 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

Chapter 101: Chapter 100 Microalgae-Based Ethanol ProductionThe sudden drop in temperature has made the warmth and heating issues in the shelter serious. Although the external temperature is -34°C, the fact that the temperature inside the shelter is still 7°C is enough to prove the excellent thermal insulation and cold resistance capability of the shelter, but this does not hide the fact that the temperature inside the shelter is already quite low. It’s important to note that there is also a greenhouse in the shelter, and if the temperature there is too low, it would affect the growth of crops. While thinking about these issues and clearing ice from the small bunker, Chen Xin has to contemplate how to improve the heating and insulation of the shelter. Compared to the heating problem, insulation is not as troubling for Chen Xin, after all, his shelter is protected by over 200 meters of soil, and even the entrance has a thick layer of reinforced concrete and insulation, which leaves nothing to be desired in terms of insulation performance, as evidenced by the indoor temperature remaining at seven degrees. If he wants to improve the insulation, Chen Xin thinks he only needs to upgrade the insulation material of the walls once more. Regarding the choice of upgrading insulation materials, Chen Xin doesn’t have a specific idea, but if possible, he wants to replace the wall insulation with carbon aerogel. Under normal temperature and pressure, the thermal conductivity of carbon aerogel can be as low as 0.013w/m·K, which is currently the lowest thermal conductivity of solid materials on Blue Star. Compared to traditional polyurethane materials, it is more efficient and can still provide excellent insulation even in extremely low temperatures. However, the heating issue is more severe. Although the indoor temperature of the shelter is seven degrees, which is manageable for Chen Xin even without a heater, the greenhouse cannot do without heating. While low temperatures won’t kill the crops, they will lower crop activity, slow growth, and turn crops that originally could be harvested in a month into ones that require forty days to harvest. Therefore, Chen Xin must find a way to maintain the temperature of the greenhouse at least around 20°C to ensure the good growth of the crops. This undoubtedly requires a powerful heating system, and both electricity and gasoline consumption would be significant. After all, the heat value of gasoline is fixed, and the conversion of heat energy to electricity itself involves losses. Furthermore, converting electricity back to heat leads to excessive energy loss, making it entirely unworthy. Calculating everything, Chen Xin realizes that he is stuck with the energy issue, and without solving this problem, it would be difficult for the shelter to continue operating normally. After clearing the ice in the small bunker and throwing the ice fragments out through the gaps, Chen Xin carried the tool hammer back to the shelter. After removing the protective suit, he took a temperature gun to the greenhouse to measure the temperature and then consider the heating issue. However, upon measuring, it was somewhat unexpected for Chen Xin to find that the greenhouse still had a temperature of 11°C. Chen Xin was somewhat surprised to examine the greenhouse carefully, looking at the greenhouse walls and the supplementary light fixtures hanging on racks, and immediately understood. These supplementary lights are used to simulate sunlight exposure, with an intensity equivalent to natural light exposure, so naturally, they also generate heat. Coupled with the greenhouse’s wall insulation, it’s not hard to understand why the temperature is higher there than in other parts of the shelter. Nonetheless, Chen Xin still needs to consider raising the greenhouse’s temperature. Although 11°C isn’t low, it would still affect crop growth. Putting away the temperature gun in the bedroom cabinet, Chen Xin opened his computer and, while eating self-heating food for breakfast, planned to search for information. While searching for information, Chen Xin also pondered what kind of heating method would be most suitable for him. Chen Xin’s shelter is located by Dongting Lake, and this city serves as the northern gateway of Xiang Province. Regardless of whether looking south or north, there are numerous hot springs distributed, but unfortunately, this city itself doesn’t have any geothermal resources or hot springs. If there were geothermal hot springs, Chen Xin felt he could give up further considerations and directly dig a large hot spring bath in the shelter to use geothermal heat for warmth, or even utilize it for electricity generation if geothermal resources were abundant. However, Chen Xin has given up hope on geothermal hot springs. The city’s lack of geothermal resources is one reason, and during the previous upgrade of the water supply system, drilling down fifty meters only brought up ground water that wasn’t warm and actually a bit cool. Therefore, geothermal hot springs are out of the question for Chen Xin. While browsing the information, Chen Xin came across an interesting piece of information. Although this information wasn’t directly related to heating, it still caught his attention. This was a technology developed by an algal biofuel company in the Federation’s Florida, utilizing the photosynthesis in cyanobacteria cells to produce ethanol. The ethanol produced by cyanobacteria can be excreted through their cell walls as a dilute ethanol/water solution, collected from closed photobioreactors, and purified into fuel-grade ethanol. This was a new technology that was still experimental before the disaster, but its prospects are indeed promising as the technology itself is proven to be feasible. According to the company’s data, they estimated setting up 430 bioreactors per hectare could produce about 56,000 liters of ethanol per hectare annually, which averages to about 130 liters of ethanol per bioreactor. A photobioreactor contains about 4500 liters of culture medium, which is roughly 4.5 cubic meters in volume, leading Chen Xin to consider upgrading his algae oxygen generator to this mode, simultaneously producing ethanol while generating oxygen. It’s important to know that ethanol is quite a decent fuel, and although 130 liters isn’t much, it can be used in various aspects. Recording this information, Chen Xin continued his search until he found the information he wanted: the shallow geothermal energy utilization project for this city planned in Flame Country’s "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan." Shallow geothermal energy, as defined, refers to geothermal resources contained within 0-200 meters depth of the earth’s surface, as opposed to deep geothermal resources. Like geothermal resources, shallow geothermal energy is a type of geothermal energy, but it is defined as low-temperature geothermal energy below 25°C, and before the disaster, it was mainly used for heating. Although the utilization technology of shallow geothermal energy isn’t particularly new, because the city’s three shallow geothermal energy utilization projects were only planned in recent years, none were fully completed and operational before the disaster. Seeing the information and related data on geothermal energy, Chen Xin couldn’t help but feel tempted. Should he try it? If successful, not only could he solve the current heating issue, but future upgrades might even allow him to tap into deeper geothermal resources.

Chapter 101 - 100 Microalgae-Based Ethanol Production

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